My Science School

Ancient Peruvians munched on popcorn almost 7,000 years ago! Traces of ancient cobs, husks and stalks were unearthed at Paredones and Huaca Prieta, two coastal sites that were once home to pre-historic settlements, hinting that the snack's popularity dates back as far as 4700 B.C. How did they prepare the crunchy treat? They roasted the cobs directly over coals or flames. Later inhabitants of Peru's northern coast would develop the world's oldest known popper - a shallow vessel with a handle and a hole on top around 300 A.D.

"Corn was first domesticated in Mexico nearly 9,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte," Dolores Piperno, co-author and curator of New World archaeology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, said in a written statement. "Our results show that only a few thousand years later corn arrived in South America where its evolution into different varieties that are now common in the Andean region began."

With the hundreds of maize varieties known today, it's hard for scientists to know exactly how each strain of corn came about and when and where it originated. This is particularly true because corncobs and kernels didn't stay well preserved in the humid tropical forests between Central and South America, including Panama, which is the primary dispersal route for the crop after it first left Mexico over 8,000 years ago.

"Because there is so little data available from other places for this time period, the wealth of morphological information about the cobs and other corn remains at this early date is very important for understanding how corn became the crop we know today," said Piperno.

But popcorn isn't the oldest snack we've found to be eaten by prehistoric humans. Last year, scientists found fossilized plant remains stuck in the teeth of Neanderthal fossils, revealing that our ancestors ate a wide range of grains and plants in addition to meat.

Conveniently for paleobiologists, the mineralization process that forms fossils traps and preserves food particles and bacteria in the oral environment, leaving behind traceable clues of Paleolithic meals.

Credit : Huff Post

Picture Credit : Google

November was the ninth month of the ancient Roman calendar and has retained its name from the Latin word novem meaning 'nine'.

There are two theories. The first would have you believe that there used to be just 10 months in the Roman calendar. At some point, when they supposedly changed it to 12, the Romans added January and February at the front of the year, which pushed the other 10 months and their names off course. The second would have you believe that there were always 12 months, but New Year's Day used to be March 1 and the last month of the year was February. But over many decades and centuries, through a series of bureaucratic and political changes, the New Year holiday simply drifted back in the calendar until it landed on Jan. 1. 

Amelia Carolina Sparavigna is a physicist at the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy and has conducted archaeo-astronomical studies to chart the precise lunar phases of ancient Rome's calendars. Interestingly, under the 10-month theory, the months weren't longer, she said. The Romans simply didn't bother to mark or measure the days in what we call now January and February because little to no agriculture happened in those months, and calendars at that time were developed primarily for farmers. "After a gap in the winter, the year started from Martius," she told Live Science.

But the Romans were a notoriously organized bunch, so why would they introduce two new months and then simply ignore the fact that many of their other named months no longer made sense? Well, the answer could be that naming conventions were a bit of a political quagmire back then — lots of people in power were jostling to rename months to aggrandize their origins. Emperor Caligula, for example, tried to have September changed to "Germanicus" in honor of his father, Sparavigna said. Emperor Domitian also had a go and tried to turn October into Domitianus.

But none of this went down terribly well with the Roman public, who as it turned out, were fairly conservative and didn't take well to change for change's sake. "These changes of names apparently lasted for a very short time," Sparavigna said. This aversion to change makes sense — after all, many of us today still resist changes to the way we measure things; the metric system is far from universal — and could partly explain why the authorities didn't alter the naming system when they introduced January and February. 

Credit : Live Science 

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'Widow' is the only female word in the English language that is shorter than its corresponding male term 'widower'.

A woman who has lost her husband by death and has not married again. The word comes (in Old English) from an Indo-European root meaning ‘be empty’, and may be compared with Sanskrit vidh ‘be destitute’, Latin viduus ‘bereft, widowed’, and Greek eitheos ‘unmarried man’.

The widow is an informal term for champagne, from a translation of French la Veuve Clicquot, a firm of wine merchants.

The Widow at Windsor Queen Victoria after the death of the Prince Consort, in reference to her prolonged withdrawal from public life; the phrase was used as the title of a poem by Rudyard Kipling (1890).

Widow Twankey the name given to Aladdin's mother in in H. J. Byron's dramatization of the story of Aladdin as a pantomime. She was so named in reference to a kind of green tea which was then popular (Byron's play had a number of jokes about China tea). Widow Twankey is now one of the stock characters for this pantomime.

Widow’s cruse an apparently small supply that proves inexhaustible, with biblical allusion to 1 Kings 17:10–16, in the story of the widow to whom Elijah was sent for sustenance. When he asked her for bread, she replied that all she had for herself and her son was ‘an handful of meal…and a little oil in a cruse’; Elijah told her to make a cake of it for him first, and then to make food for herself and her son, since by God's decree neither meal nor oil should be exhausted.

widow's mite a small monetary contribution from someone who is poor, with biblical allusion to Mark 12:42–44 which tells the story of a poor widow who gave to the Temple treasury ‘two mites, which make a farthing’; Jesus, who saw her, told his disciples that she had given more than the richest contributor, because she had given all that she had.

Widow’s peak a V-shaped growth of hair towards the centre of the forehead, especially one left by a receding hairline in a man; held to resemble the peak of a cap traditionally worn by a widow.

Widow’s weeds black clothes worn by a widow in mourning, traditionally including a crape veil and broad white cuffs or ‘weepers’.

Credit :  Oxford Reference 

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On 06 August 1945, during the final stages of WWII the world's first atom bomb nicknamed 'Little Boy', was dropped by American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, over Hiroshima city. Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a direct result of the blast and 35,000 injured.

Another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. Three days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki city, killing nearly 40,000 people. A few days later, Japan announced its surrender.

The Enola Gay remained in service for several years before being given to the Smithsonian Institution on July 3, 1949. It was later disassembled and stored in Maryland. In 1984 work began on restoring the aircraft, which was in dire need of repair. Exposure to the elements had damaged the plane, and it had been vandalized. In addition, birds had built nests in various compartments. The project ultimately spanned some 20 years. In 1995 a portion of the plane served as the centrepiece of a controversial exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C. The exhibit had originally been scheduled to include artifacts from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and highlight the debate over the decision to use the bomb. Amid fierce opposition, however, the original plans were canceled, and a much scaled-back version was staged. In 2003 the fully restored Enola Gay was put on display at the NASM’s Steven F. Udar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

Credit :  Britannica 

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On 6 September 1965, India crossed the international border into Pakistan, marking the official start of the 1965 war. On 01 September, Pakistan had launched Operation Grand Slam to capture Akhnoor in Jammu, which would sever communications and cut off supply routes to Indian troops.

Known as the Second Kashmir War, it saw IAF and PAF aircrafts in combat for the first time since independence and some of the largest tank battles since WWII. The five-week war caused thousands of casualties on both sides and ended in a U.N. mandated ceasefire and the signing of the Tashkent Declaration.

A key operation in the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War was Operation Grand Slam. It refers to a plan to attack the vital Akhnoor Bridge in Jammu and Kashmir constructed in May 1965 by the Pakistan Army. The bridge was the lifeline of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan army thought that this could be used to threaten Jammu which was an important logistics point for the Indian Army. As the stated military goals were not achieved, the operation ended in a defeat for the Pakistan Army, and they were subsequently forced to withdraw following a counterattack by the Indian Army.

The Tashkent Agreement, signed by India's Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistan's President Ayub Khan, ended the 17-day August-September 1965 war between Pakistan and India. In Sept. 1965, a cease-fire was secured by the United Nations Security Council. Soviet Premier Aleksey Kosygin, who had invited the parties to Tashkent, negotiated the deal. With this agreement, India and Pakistan announced their firm resolve to restore their countries' usual and friendly relations. They take into account the achievement of the following targets for the welfare of the people of India and Pakistan.

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Today, we see tacos everywhere and in every form - carnitas, barbacoa, al pastor, adobada, and countless other variations of this corn-based tortilla wrap in authentic Mexican food. Though the taco came from Mexico, it seems to be one of the most universally loved foods, spreading worldwide.

The origin of the word taco comes from the Nahuatl’s “tlahco,” translating to “half, or in the middle” in English, describing the way we fold this tasty flatbread before eating it. 

The origin of tacos begins with corn. Sometime around 3,000 BC, Mexicans excavated the “Valle de Tehuac” and hybridized grasses to create the corn plant. Indigenous cultures viewed corn as the foundation of humanity or the seed of life. They even believed humans were built of corn. 

Ancient culture revered corn because it quite literally kept them alive and improved their overall quality of life drastically. 

Corn kernels are nixtamalized with an alkaline treatment to remove the husk, then ground into a fine corn flour base of our favorite tortillas. Historians date the first traces of nixtamalized corn back to the Olmec culture back in 1,500 BC, meaning they likely included a basic corn flatbread in their diets. 

The famous Moctezuma used these corn tortillas to scoop and hold his food after a hot stone preparation. Years later, after Hernan Cortez overthrew the Aztec empire, he fed his soldiers banquets of corn tortillas and pork. 

Authentic Mexican tacos in their modern form developed sometime in the 19th century in the booming Mexican silver mines. The first true type of taco was the “taco de minero,” or “miner’s taco.” 

And though we can’t say for sure, experts believe that “taco” referred initially to gunpowder wrapped in a thin piece of paper, used to blow up holes in the rock face and excavate the ore. It’s easy to see how a tasty tortilla wrap may have resembled them, earning the taco’s modern moniker. A small taco, taquito, looks exactly like a small stick of dynamite and might burn as badly as one for those not well acquainted with chile spice!

From there, tacos spread through the working-class of Mexico, with taquerias popping up to offer modestly priced meals. Migrant women brought the taco to Mexico City to sell, and the city quickly transformed into the country’s biggest taco hub. 

In 1908, the city of Cuautla, Morelos birthed tacos made with sausage, chorizo, green sauce and pork rinds, mole Verde, and many more modern favorites. Eventually, these tacos made their way to the capital, Cuernavaca. 

Credit : Uno Casa

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Burrito is a popular Mexican dish consisting of a grilled or steamed tortilla wrapped into a cylindrical shape and filled with varied ingredients. Did you know that the word “burrito” means “little donkey” in Spanish? This could be because a burrito can carry many things just as a donkey can. Another theory is that the stuffed tortilla looks like the bundles often carried by the pack animal.

Another popular theory tells of an unnamed street vendor in Ciudad Juárez, who created the burrito in the 1940s, to sell to poor children at a nearby school. His affectionate nickname for the children was “burritos”, slang for “slow” or “dimwitted”, and that was how the food got its name.

There is one more theory, according to which the burrito was invented in Sonora (a region in northwest Mexico) as a food that was easy to carry around while traveling. Since traveling was commonly done by donkey, the burrito was named after the travel companion. Gustavo Arellano, who wrote the book “Taco: USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America” and is an expert on the topic, believes this theory is the most plausible, since Sonora is the region of Mexico known for growing wheat, which is the main ingredient in flour tortillas.

The original Mexican burritos (which are still consumed in Mexico today) are small and thin. They are filled with basic ingredients like meat, fish, cheese, beans, rice and hot peppers – but never all together, just one or two of these ingredients in a single burrito. Migrant workers from Mexico had possibly brought burritos with them to the United States between the 1940s and the 1960s. Americans quickly fell in love with the flavourful dish, and taquerias serving burritos started springing up in Southern California in the following decades.

The arrival of the burrito the States helped catalyze its transformation into the big, juicy super-burrito we know today. The Mission-style burrito, also known as the San Francisco burrito, was invented by El Faro, a grocery store in San Francisco’s Mission District, in 1961. El Faro’s owner, Febronio Ontiveros, claims to have come up with the extra-large burrito that contained rice, guacamole and sour cream alongside the standard fillings of meat, beans and cheese.

Of course, that’s not how the burrito story ends. Sixty years later, burritos in dizzying varieties are available in restaurants and grocery stores across the globe. Pretty incredible for a dish that started as a functional meal for travelers!

Credit : Quesada 

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March 8 is celebrated as International Women's Day. Did you know that the origin of this historic day is one of the most powerful stories on women's tenacity?  

We live in the 21st Century. But get ready for some time-travel since we will be going to the previous century and even beyond. Today, when elections are held, women queuing up at polling booths is a common sight. But this wasn't the norm always. Till the 19th Century, the world over, women were not allowed to vote. (In fact, in several parts of the world. for centuries, women were barred even from studying or taking up certain kinds of professions.) Before that, a handful of regions allowed women to vote, under very specific conditions. Even among those few regions, some of them snatched back that right from women over the years. Gradually though, after the 1850s, things began to change, and women's suffrage was becoming a reality.

What is women's suffrage?

 Suffrage is the right to vote in elections, and so, women's suffrage refers to women having that right. In a landmark move in 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing country globally where women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections. And that came about only after years of effort from women. By the beginning of the 20th Century, Australia followed suit. Even during World War I, the likes of Britain and the U.S. still did not have women's suffrage. Women decided it won't do, and being who they are, aware, strong, and resilient - they refused to cow down to the intimidation they faced for demanding voting rights.

Standing together

During the beginning of the 20th - Century, women decide they've had enough of not just the lack of voting rights but also of the general unfair treatment meted out to them. In 1908, thousands of women in the U.S. march "through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights". The following year, the National Woman's Day in the U.S. is celebrated on February 28 (and on the last Sunday of February for the next few years). Clearly, the suppression of women is confined to not just one region, and so the fight for equality slowly finds resonance in places far and wide, sparking women's marches over the next few years. In 1910, during the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, German feminist Clara Zetkin proposes each year that all the countries earmark the same day - a Women's Day - for women to press for their demands. The conference, with over 100 women from 17 countries and various walks of life, offers its unanimous approval for the suggestion, and the International Women's Day is born. Over the next few decades, among other rights, women win the right to vote and contest in elections in most parts of the world.

Why March 8?

During the course of World War I (from 1914 to 1918), thousands of women in Russia gather to underscore the need for global compassion and peace, and to condemn the mindless deaths of millions of soldiers in the ongoing war. On February 23 (the last Sunday of the month), 1917, Russian women start a massive strike over the death of soldiers, and in four days, bring the Czar (Russian ruler) down while winning the right to vote. The date was February 23 on the Julian calendar used by Russia. On the Gregorian calendar, more commonly followed everywhere else, that historic day was March 8!

Today

While the International Women's Day certainly turned the spotlight on several issues women face globally, the fight against inequality and suppression continues to this day. Though many of the advertisements and events during the run up to the day will have you believe that it is all about just celebrating women for a day, in reality the day is a recurring reminder of women's collective strength, courage, achievements, and power. It is also an implicit reminder that there will be no need for this fight or struggle if we create an equitable society.

Kolam

Created every morning (and sometimes evening too) by women for many centuries now, this threshold ritual takes shape to wish for the household's wealth and prosperity. But it is more than just that. Traditionally, the kolams have been created with dry rice powder or wet rice flour. Intricate patterns emerge, as if magically, through a sequence of lines and dots with rice powder flowing down gently between the fingers. For a dash of colour, wet red soil is used as border. Rice powder is used since it feeds the many insects and birds that cross the threshold. There are other styles of wall and floor art-such as rangoli, aripana, mandana, etc- created by women in different regions. But there are hardly any like the kolams that disappear every day only to be born again the next morning. Though the kolam patterns and the powders used are changing today, neither its creativity nor complexity is. Which explains its versatility, since you can find them on everything from bags to cushion covers!

Mandana

This is a floor and wall art tradition nurtured by generations of women in west and central India. But nowhere does the splendour of this art form come alive as gloriously as in the villages of the Meena tribe in Rajasthan. Mandana art is created during special events and festivals, especially Deepavali. Through simple shapes and dots, wall and floors are covered in animal and plant motifs and decorative designs. The preparation of the surface is as elaborate as the patterns themselves since they are cured using clay and cow dung. The designs themselves are coaxed out of bright white chalk and red clay that stand out dramatically against brown walls. Unlike kolams, mandana creations last longer. But they are just as imaginative, complex and compelling. Mandana art also forges a deep connection among the women in the community since they all work together work on their creations, especially the larger ones.

Picture Credit : Google

Tracing its roots

The birth of Indian-Chinese cuisine can be attributed to Chinese migrants who moved to Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1700s. One of the first recorded migrants who travelled to India for material prospects was Yang Tai Chow, a Chinese businessman, in 1778. With more number of Chinese migrants arriving, Chinatown was established in Calcutta,

Like most immigrant communities, the Chinese acquired and incorporated Indian sensibilities into their food and this eventually led to the birth of the famous Indian-Chinese cuisine. According to reports, the first Indian Chinese restaurant called Eau Chew, opened in Calcutta. The dishes on their menu were a blend of Chinese ingredients such as soy sauce and noodles, and Indian spices. The dishes impressed the locals, and eventually, a number of such food joints sprung in Calcutta

An iconic dish

Mumbai, which too had a substantial number of Chinese immigrants, also witnessed a similar trend. One of the most iconic moments was the invention of chicken manchurian, which today is synonymous with Chinese food in India. Invented by Nelson Wang, the then caterer of Chinese food at the Cricket Club of India, chicken manchurian was first prepared in Mumbai in 1975. Wang, who was born in Calcutta moved to Bombay for work.

According to popular legend, he created the dish by tossing soy sauce, cornstarch and chicken together in a pan, when a customer demanded a new dish. Now, there are a few varieties of manchurian available in our restaurants.

Fan-favourites

Though the Chinese community in India has dwindled significantly, the dishes are a fan-favourite According to reports, there is a significant rise in the consumption of restaurant food among the millennials, and many choose Indian-Chinese food, as it is easily available across the country. The predominance of gravy and rice makes Indian-Chinese a comfort cuisine.

Indian-Chinese dishes have become a quintessential part of Indian cuisine, that most of these items can hardly be found anywhere outside the country, even in China. Several Indian-Chinese dishes bear very little resemblance to the food actually eaten in China. These dishes include chilli chicken or paneer, spring rolls, chowmein and fried rice, and date pancakes.

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The 1870s voyage of HMS Challenger lasted 1,000 days and covered more than 68,000 nautical miles. Many consider it to be the first true oceanographic expedition because it yielded a wealth of information about the marine environment. Those aboard identified many organisms then new to science, and they gathered data at 362 oceanographic stations on temperature, currents, water chemistry, and ocean floor deposits. The scientific results of the voyage were published in a 50-volume, 29,500-page report that took 23 years to compile. Specialists in numerous scientific disciplines studied the collections and data, and helped produce the reports. Also, the reports written by members of the Challenger expedition provided rich descriptions of the flora, fauna and cultures of the lands visited.

The HMS Challenger originally was designed as a British warship—a steam corvette in the Royal Navy—outfitted with 17 guns and an engine capable of over 1,200 horsepower. The 200-foot ship was three-masted, square-rigged, and built of wood.

In 1870, Dr. C. Wyville Thomson suggested that the Royal Society of London ask the British government for the use of one of its ships for an extended research cruise. The government agreed, and the HMS Challenger was modified to conduct oceanic research. Ammunition and 15 of the guns were removed from the ship and replaced with laboratories, workrooms, and storage space. The HMS Challenger used sails rather than the steam engine most of the time to allow for frequent stops when collecting data. The steam engine was used only during dredging operations to collect samples from the depths of the ocean floor.

The science and ship crew consisted of six civilian/scientific staff, led by Dr. C. Wyville Thomson. It also included 21 naval officers, including Captain George Nares (replaced by Captain Frank Thomson in 1875), and approximately 216 crew. When the voyage ended in 1876, only 144 crew remained on the ship. Seven people had died, five left when Captain Nares did, 26 were left in hospitals or were unable to continue the journey, and several had deserted at the various ports of call.

Credit : Ocean Explorer 

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Though the ocean covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, only 10% of it has been explored. The rest still remains a mystery. The first systematic deep sea exploration began in 1872 on board HMS Challenger. The expedition revealed that the deep sea supports a diverse biota.

The great age of exploration and discovery that began with the Portuguese and Spanish in the fifteenth century had largely run its course by the latter part of the nineteenth century. All the major landmasses of the world had been discovered by that time, the coastlines charted, and explorers were making major inroads towards exploring the continental interiors for geographic, scientific, and commercial purposes. Throughout this time the oceans served as highways between nations and continents, highways upon which ships sailed carrying raw materials, finished goods, people, and money from port to port. Fishermen, whalers, sealers, and others depended on the sea for their livelihood, and the products of their work fed and employed countless people in nearly every country. Yet, in spite of this dependence on the oceans, no systematic scientific study had been made of them until the Challenger set sail in 1872.

Although explorations on land were progressing well, land encompasses only about 30% of the Earth's surface. No matter how thoroughly the continents were mapped and explored, there was a limit to our understanding of the Earth unless serious, scientific exploration of the oceans took place. This is the role that Challenger,under the scientific direction of Charles Wyville Thomson (1830-1832) and the military leadership of Captain George Nares (1831-1915) was to fill.

The Challenger voyage was a logical progression from other scientific voyages sponsored by Britain. Captain James Cook (1728-1779) made three voyages of discovery with the Endeavour between 1768 and his death in 1779, Charles Darwin (1809-1882) accompanied the Beagle in 1831 on a voyage of nearly five years, and other lesser known scientists and explorers made similar voyages. But England's empire on land was held together by her dependence on the sea. So, in 1870, Thomson, a professor of natural history at Edinburgh University, persuaded the Royal Society to recommend a voyage of oceanographic exploration and study, a recommendation that was granted.

At the time Challenger set sail, geologists were relatively certain that there were vast expanses of featureless plains at the bottom of the oceans, probably covered with all the sediments washed from the continents. They were also sure that life could not exist at the ocean bottoms and that any sediments found would likely be unremarkable, fine-grained sediments that varied little from place to place. All of these suppositions were shown to be wrong. Finally, the land-based scientists had some facts with which to work.

Credit : Encyclopedia.com 

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Charles Cretors invented the first commercial popcorn machine in 1885. Charles Cretors redesigned a peanut roaster machine after he purchased it for his confectionery shop in Decatur, Illinois but was deeply unsatisfied with how it functioned. After redesigning the peanut roaster machine for better function, he realized he was able to use it to pop popcorn. His invention marks the very first popcorn machine could pop popcorn uniformly in seasoning. Cretors moved to Chicago to sell popcorn and show off his new popcorn machine invention. When he purchased his first vendors' license to legally sell the popcorn outside of his shop on December 2nd, 1885, his company, C. Cretors & Company was born and the world of popcorn was forever changed.

His popcorn machine was run by a little steam engine, which promoted the popcorn popping process, and by 1893, he had created a popcorn machine could pop popcorn in oil. His invention was patented same year. Cretors took his popcorn machine to Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, which is now known as the World’s Fair: Columbian Exposition and introduced it to the public. He offered free samples of his hot buttered popcorn and by the time he left, people were lining up to purchase his popcorn. A traveling salesman named J. M. Savage tried Cretors product and offered to sell the steam-powered popcorn machine in his territory. Thrilled by this deal, Cretors agreed and Cretors hired his first salesman.

By 1900, Cretors invented the Special, a popcorn machine wagon drawn by horses and it became a huge success. From the success of the Special, several different versions of it were created, including one wrapped in walnut wood. As electricity was becoming more available, Cretors was the creator of the very first popcorn machine with an electrical motor. Electrical popcorn machines became more popular than their steam-powered parent and as movie attendance in the 1920s grew, so did the demand for Cretors popcorn machine. In 1988, the United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp featuring a picture of Cretors’ 1902 version of the first popcorn machine wagon as a tribute to America's first snack.

Credit : America’s Favourite Popcorn

Picture Credit : Google

This year marks the 1900 anniversary of the start of the construction of Hadrian's Wall, which took six years to complete and was built to guard the northern frontier of the Roman Empire in 122 AD. The wall ran for 118-km from the Solway Firth to Wallsend on the River Tyne and is now designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The wall featured over 80 milecastles or forts, two observation towers and 17 larger forts. After the Romans left Britain in the early 5th century, some 300 years after the wall was constructed, large sections of the wall fell into decay and were recycled into local buildings and houses. As England lines up events to celebrate the anniversary, archaeologists realise the wall is facing a new threat-climate change!

The historic barrier

Nineteen hundred years after it was built to keep out "barbarian hordes", archaeologists at Hadrian's Wall in northern England are facing a new enemy - climate change, which threatens its vast treasure trove of Roman artefacts.

Thousands of soldiers and many of their families lived around the 118-km stone wall, which crosses England from west coast to east coast, marking the limit of the Roman Empire and forming Britain's largest Roman archaeological feature.

The wall was begun in 122 AD during the reign of emperor Hadrian and marked the boundary between Roman Britannia and unconquered Caledonia, helping to keep barbarian raiders out of the empire.

Treasure trove

The Roman soldiers who lived there left behind not just wooden structures but the fascinating detritus of everyday life that allows archaeologists today to reconstruct how they lived in the windswept north of the empire.

They include the fort of Vindolanda, some 33 miles west of the modem day city of Newcastle upon Tyne, a Roman settlement at the original eastern end of the wall, then named Pons Aelius.

New threat

"A lot of the landscapes at Hadrian's Wall are preserved under peat bog and marsh very wet, very moist ground, which has protected the archaeology for almost two millennia," according to Andrew Birley, director of excavations and chief executive of the Vindolanda Trust.

"But as global warming takes place, climate change takes place," he added.

The ground heats up more rapidly than the air temperature, caking the previously moist soil and letting oxygen in through the resulting cracks.

"When that oxygen gets in there, things that are really delicate, that are made of leather, textile, items of wood, crack, decay and are lost forever," said Birley.

"All of this, all this masonry. all of the ground behind me was under the ground. It was under a farmer's field 50 years ago," said Birley. "Less than one percent of Hadrian's Wall has been explored archaeologically and a lot of that landscape is protected in this wet peat land environment and that's a landscape that's really under threat."

Glimpses of the past

Behind him, dozens of Roman shoes from all genders, ages and social strata are displayed, just a small sample of the around 5.500 leather items so far found at the site alone.

Thanks to the black, peaty soil, many of the artefacts have kept a fascinating level of detail

"They are fantastic because they've completely changed our perception of the Roman Empire the Roman army, they've changed it from being a male preserve to lots of women and children running around," he said.

"And without these artefacts surviving, we wouldn't have had that information and that's the sort of stuff that's under threat because of climate change." AFP

1900 years on...

• The building of the wall began in 122 AD during the reign of emperor Hadrian.
• Over the years, the dramatic landscape around the wall has revealed stone and wooden structures, leather shoes and clothing, tools, weapons and even handwritten wooden tablets, feeding knowledge of what Roman life in Britain was like.
• Only around a quarter of the site at Vindolanda has been excavated, and the fort is just one of 14 along Hadrian's Wall, a designated UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987 and one of Britain's best-known ancient tourist attractions.
• Events are taking place this year to mark the 1.900 years since construction of the wall began.

Picture Credit : Google

When you think of the Colosseum, gladiatorial combats are what come to mind. But did you know the Romans also held mock naval battles there by flooding the amphitheatre with water in the initial years after its inauguration in 80 A.D.? These were held to delight spectators as well as to demonstrate Rome's might.

The Colosseum is the world’s largest amphitheater and one of the most recognizable symbols of Rome.
Construction of this grandiose building, also known as the Flavian Amphitheater, began in 70 AD by order of emperor Vespasian. Ten years later, it was completed under the rule of his son, Titus. The building’s opening ceremony in 80 AD was as impressive as the Colosseum itself, lasting for 100 days with games such as animal fighting and gladiator duels.

With dimensions of 513 by 620 feet, the Colosseum held between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators, averaging 65,000 attendants per event — a remarkable number even by today’s standards. Made of concrete and stone, this arena was in use for over 390 years and saw the deaths of more than 400,000 people and nearly a million animals.

The Colosseum was built by more than 60,000 Jewish slaves, who finished it in just ten years. The arena was later renovated several times, with underground tunnels (the hypogeum) added by emperor Domitian to hold animals and slaves, and a red canvas covering installed to shield spectators from rain.

The Colosseum was a venue for more than just gladiatorial games, though, used also for public executions and mythological plays. The Romans would often re-enact famous military victories, with free admission and food for all visitors. Perhaps the most spectacular events at the Colosseum, though, were the mock naval battles in the flooded arena.

These staged sea battles, called naumachiae, were held in places which could easily be flooded. The first recorded naumachia relates to the name of Julius Ceasar, just two years before he was assassinated. Namely, he wanted to celebrate some of his military efforts to Gaul and Egypt in 46 BC, hence he gave orders that a basin needs to be excavated in the proximity of river Tiber. The basin was used for an event in which some 2,000 prisoners fought against each other to the death. Four thousand rowers were present at the mock battle as well.

Some four decades later, in 2 BC, it was now the turn of Emperor Augustus. He had ordered the creation of similar basin, also by the river Tiber, and another event was staged. Some 3,000 peoples and 30 ships participated.

Some four decades later, in 2 BC, it was now the turn of Emperor Augustus. He had ordered the creation of similar basin, also by the river Tiber, and another event was staged. Some 3,000 peoples and 30 ships participated.

The first naumachia at the Colosseum had 3000 combatants and replicated an ancient battle between Athens and Syracuse. An artificial island was even built in the middle of the arena, where the sailors would disembark and continue to fight. Another naval battle in the Colosseum was staged in 89 AD by Domitian, which was the last recorded naumachia in Rome.

The popularity of staged naval battles decreased significantly over time, and the Colosseum was used mainly for more traditional combat sports. After nearly four centuries of use, the grand arena eventually fell into disrepair, and in the early medieval period, the Romans stopped using it for entertainment purposes. Over the next few centuries, it was used as a quarry, a fortress, a Christian shrine, and a source for building materials.

Credit : The Vintage News 

Picture Credit : Google

Who is James Cook?

James Cook is a 18th century British explorer, navigator and cartographer (map-maker). He was also a captain in the British Royal Navy.

What is he famous for?

Cook is famous for three voyages between 1768 and 1779. He sailed extensively in the Pacific Ocean and the unchartered Australian coast. He is the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the on the Hawaiian Islands. He is also the first to have conducted a recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. His detailed maps of Newfoundland are useful even today. He is said to have sailed twice around the world.

The current dispute

The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) claims that the wreck known as RI 2394 in Newport Harbour, Rhode Island belongs to the Endeavour. But the U.S. partners from the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) say claim is "premature and a "breach of contract.

The Australian museum says the structural details and shape of the remains "closely match historic plans of Endeavour and that its timber samples strongly suggested it was built in Europe and not America. But the RIMAP says that many unanswered questions remained.

Backgrounder

The British-built coal ship famously landed in eastern Australia in 1770. The Endeavour, which the British explorer sailed in, in a voyage to Australia and New Zealand between 1768 and 1771, was scuttled in Newport Harbour during the American War of Independence. The Endeavour, then known as Lord Sandwich II, was sunk in 1778 with 12 other ships off Rhode Island, U.S. but no-one was sure where

Did you know?

Named after Cook

• The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour was named after Cook's ship, HMS Endeavour.
• Another shuttle, Discovery, was also named after his HMS Discovery.
• James Cook University, was the first institution of higher education in North Queensland, Australia.
• Cook Islands, the Cook Strait, Cook Inlet, and even the Cook crater on the Moon!
• Aoraki/Mount Cook is the highest summit in New Zealand.
• Mount Cook, on the border between the U.S. and Canada.
• A life-size statue of the explorer can be found in a park in central Sydney.

Picture Credit : Google