History...
Neandertal's prehistoric diet may have lacked a crucial element (4/1/2008)
One of the most mysterious creatures that ever walked the earth was Neandertal, a prehistoric human-like being who first appeared about 230,000 years ago in Europe. Scientists have been debating since the first remains were found in 1856: Was he one of us or a separate species? Neandertal, who looked very human but was burly and stocky, developed a far less sophisticated culture than Cro-Magnon, the first modern humans in Europe, who emerged about 40,000 years ago. Cro-Magnon apparently existed alongside Neandertal, but no one knows whether they made contact or not, either culturally or sexually.
10 Civilizations That Disappeared Under Mysterious Circumstances
I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Early Carthage A statue found at Carthage, possibly of Dionysus or Apollo, deities imported from Greek colonists While the culture and commercial genius of the cities of Phoenicia enabled them to preserve their independence through many centuries, in a sort of scornful supremacy over earth's military conquerors, they never themselves attained, nor did they seem to aspire to, the physical dominion over the world. A far nearer approach to this was made by their celebrated colony, Carthage. Starting from Utica or Carthage on the African shore, the earliest explorers searched the entire coast of western Africa. Tradition tells us of their strange "silent trade" with the Negroes there.
Ancient Tunisia - The Ancient Punic and Carthaginian Empires
If you like this story feel free to share... 10. Tiffany Yellow Diamond The Tiffany Yellow Diamond is one of the largest yellow diamonds ever discovered; it weighed 287.42 carats in the rough when discovered in 1878 in the Kimberley mine in South Africa. Founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany in 1837, Tiffany & Co. came to the fore among diamond merchants during the second half of the 1800s. During the political disturbances in Paris in 1848, which cumulated in the overthrough of King Louis Philippe, the firm bought a large quantity of jewels.
Legendary Diamonds from History
If you like this story feel free to share... Ever since the famed Greek philosopher Plato first wrote of a fabled continent called Atlantis more than two thousand years ago, scholars have been locked in fierce debate as to whether such a place truly existed. While a few rare individuals have taken Plato’s words seriously, most scoff at the idea that an advanced civilization could vanish as completely as if it had never existed. Such is a bit like imagining an elephant could walk through a snowdrift without leaving footprints, making it easy to ignore the entire subject and write it off as yet another example of New Age pseudo-science or, at best, an fantastic and historically indefensible fable. And this is not an unreasonable position either. After all, Plato described the place as being as large as Libya (an ancient term for North Africa) and Asia combined, making one reasonably confident it should be hard to miss.
Theories about the Lost City of Atlantis
Ancient underwater cities being found that are 10,000 years old
Lost city 'could rewrite history' By BBC News Online's Tom Housden The remains of what has been described as a huge lost city may force historians and archaeologists to radically reconsider their view of ancient human history.
By BBC News Online's Tom Housden The remains of what has been described as a huge lost city may force historians and archaeologists to radically reconsider their view of ancient human history.
BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Lost city 'could rewrite history'
The Epic of Gilgamesh is, perhaps, the oldest written story on Earth. It comes to us from Ancient Sumeria, and was originally written on 12 clay tablets in cunieform script.
Epic of Gilgamesh
A newly discovered statue of a curly haired man gripping a spear and a sheath of wheat once guarded the upper citadel of an ancient kingdom's capital. The enormous sculpture, which is intact from about the waist up, stands almost 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall, suggesting that its full height with legs would have been between 11 and 13 feet (3.5 to 4 m). Alongside the statue, archaeologists found another carving, a semicircular column base bearing the images of a sphinx and a winged bull. The pieces date back to about 1000 B.C. to 738 B.C. and belong to the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Patina in what is now southeastern Turkey. They were found at what would have been a gate to the upper citadel of the capital, Kunulua. An international team of archaeologists on the Tayinat Archaeological Project are excavating the ruins.
Ancient warrior king statue discovered - Technology & science - Science - LiveScience - NBCNews.com
The story behind the world's oldest museum, built by a Babylonian princess 2,500 years ago
I'll admit, it's a best guess based on the available evidence. And, quite honestly, the museum is not in and of itself evidence of overwhelming nostalgia. But I do think when you look at the linguistic evidence - particularly their use of 1,500 year old sayings on their inscriptions, which is sorta like if politicians started randomly quoting Beowulf (which, now that I type it, sounds pretty awesome actually) - there's good evidence of this particular society having an unusually strong affinity for its past. Indeed, you might look at the fact that they were some of the first known antiquarians/museum builders as support that they were more nostalgic/past-oriented than the rest of their ancient counterparts.
Interesting facts.. Historical tidbits you didn't know you needed to know! In George Washington's days, there were no cameras.