Ancient World Review

The Ancient Georgian Kingdom Of Colchis

Documentary from 2008. Part Two here.

"Colchis was a region in the Southern Caucasus that appeared in the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece, in Greek mythology. It was on the area where modern-day Georgia is now located." Source: Greek Mythology.

"According to the Greek mythology, Colchis was a fabulously wealthy land situated on the mysterious periphery of the heroic world. Here in the sacred grove of the war god Ares, King Aeëtes hung the Golden Fleece until it was seized by Jason and the Argonauts. Colchis was also the land where the mythological Prometheus was punished by being chained to a mountain while an eagle ate at his liver for revealing to humanity the secret of fire." Source: Wikipedia.

Colchis was also said to be the homeland of Medea, a sorceress and priestess of Hecate, the goddess of "crossroads, entrance-ways, light, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, ghosts, necromancy and sorcery." (Wikipedia) The daughter of King Aeetes, Medea is one of the most notorious women in Greek mythology. According to the play by Euripedes, she was a witch who married Jason and later killed their children after he abandoned her.

The Thracian Tomb Of Kazanlak

"Discovered in 1944, this tomb dates from the Hellenistic period, around the end of the 4th century BC. It is located near Seutopolis, the capital city of the Thracian king Seutes III, and is part of a large Thracian necropolis." Source: UNESCO World Heritage List.

Note: The tomb "comprises a narrow corridor and a round burial chamber, both decorated with murals representing a Thracian couple at a ritual funeral feast. The monument dates back to the 4th century BCE and has been on the UNESCO protected World Heritage Site list since 1979. The murals are memorable for the splendid horses and for a gesture of farewell, in which the seated couple grasp each other's wrists in a moment of tenderness and equality (according to Lyudmila Zhivkova—a view that is not shared by all specialists). The paintings are Bulgaria's best-preserved artistic masterpieces from the Hellenistic period." (Wikipedia)

The tomb itself is closed to the public, but a full-scale replica has been constructed nearby.

Mount Nemrud: The Throne Of The Gods

Notes: "The Sanctuary of Nemrud Dagi is one of the most remarkable, best preserved, but least known monuments of Asia Minor.  The site, called by its builder a hierothesion, or 'common dwelling place of all the gods next to the heavenly thrones,' is situated 2150m above sea level atop one of the highest peaks in the Anti-Taurus Mountains of southeastern Turkey near the banks of the Euphrates River.  The monument is one of the premier sites of the Late Hellenistic period.  It was constructed by King Antiochus I of Commagene in the mid-1st century BCE to command a 360o view of the ranges, plains, and towns that comprised his ancient kingdom.  It became the main sanctuary of his ruler cult to which worshippers from all over this kingdom were expected to go on the monthly and yearly anniversary of the king's birth and his accession to the throne." Source: Learning Sites - The Virtual World of Nemrud Dagi.

The Royal Tombs Of Ur

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Note: "During the later part of the Early Dynastic period, the inhabitants of Ur expended considerable energy to construct tombs for their deceased elites," according to the Penn Museum. "Though we do not know their identities with certainty, written evidence suggests that these elites were the city-state’s kings and queens, who may have fulfilled a number of important roles in life. We do not know whether the burial pits were dug and tomb chambers constructed before the death of their occupants or whether they were hastily prepared afterwards, the more likely alternative. But the considerable wealth in the tombs, including the animals and attendants buried with Ur’s kings and queens, testify to the power or pretensions to power of these elites and their ability to intimidate."

Note: "Excavations from 1922 to 1934 were funded by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania and led by the archaeologist Sir Charles Leonard Woolley. A total of about 1,850 burials were uncovered, including 16 that were described as 'royal tombs' containing many valuable artifacts, including the Standard of Ur [see next video]. Most of the royal tombs were dated to about 2600 BC. The finds included the unlooted tomb of a queen thought to be Queen Puabi—the name is known from a cylinder seal found in the tomb, although there were two other different and unnamed seals found in the tomb. Many other people had been buried with her, in a form of human sacrifice." (Wikipedia)

Related: The Royal Tombs Of Ur

Humans And Neanderthals Evolved From Mystery Common Ancestor

Video from 2015.

"Modern humans and Neanderthals may have diverged at least 800,000 years ago, according to an analysis of nearly 1,000 teeth from humans and our close relatives." Source: Live Science.

"This new estimate is much older than previous estimates based on ancient DNA analyses, which put the split between humans and Neanderthals as happening between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago."

Note: This research, if accurate, creates a problem. Humans and Neanderthals are thought to have interbred about 60,000 years ago, but that seems unlikely if they actually diverged 800,000 years ago. And there's a huge difference -- at least a quarter of a million years -- between the dating provided by DNA analysis and the results from this study. Which is correct? Who knows?

Scientists Discover Footprints Of Humans Crawling Through Cave In Italy 14,000 Years Ago

"About 14,000 years ago, a party of five barefoot people — two adults, one preteen and two children — walked and even crawled through a dark passageway in a cave, according to a new study that analyzed the hand- and footprints these individuals left behind." Source: Live Science.

 

"To light their way, these late Stone Age people likely burned bundles of pine (Pinus) sticks, which archaeologists also found in the cave, known as Grotta della Bàsura, in northern Italy."

More Mysterious Jars Of The Dead Unearthed In Laos

Video from 2017.

"...archaeologists have discovered 15 new sites in Laos containing more than one hundred 1000-year-old massive stone jars possibly used for the dead." Source: Archaeology News Network (2017).

"The jars of Laos are one of archaeology's enduring mysteries. Experts believe they were related to disposal of the dead, but nothing is known about the jars' original purpose and the people who brought them there."

Note: "The landscape of the Xieng Khouang plateau is dotted throughout with thousands of stone jars, in clusters from one to over a hundred jars. Initial study of the Plain of Jars by French archaeologist Madeleine Colani in the 1930's suggested that the stone jars are associated with the burial practices of the protohistoric communities living in the area." (UNESCO World Heritage List)

 

Related: Ancient "Plain of Jars" Burial Site Recreated in Virtual Reality.

Related: Clearing unexploded bombs in Laos' Plain of Jars.

Stone-Agers In The Fast Lane

"From a genetic standpoint, humans living today are Stone Age hunter-gatherers displaced through time to a world that differs from that for which our genetic constitution was selected." Source: "Stone Agers In The Fast Lane: Chronic Degenerative Diseases In Evolutionary Perspective [PDF]"

This interesting paper argues that the rise of civilization, especially modern industrial civilization, has had a devastating impact on our health and general fitness. Physiologically, we are Stone Age hunter-gatherers, but we're locked into a high-stress alien environment which is literally killing us:

"Although our genes have hardly changed, our culture has been transformed almost  beyond recognition during the past 10,000 years, especially since the Industrial Revolution. There is increasing evidence that the resulting mismatch fosters 'diseases of civilization' that together cause 75 percent of all deaths in Western nations, but that are rare among persons whose lifeways reflect those of our preagricultural ancestors."

This isn't a new argument and in some ways it makes a lot of sense. After all, the Stone Age lasted for something like three million years, so humans have spent most of their time as hunter-gatherers living in an underpopulated wilderness environment. The difference between the Paleolithic world and the modern world is so dramatic it's almost like we've been transported to a completely different planet.

The rise of civilization has lead to an increase in life expectancy, mostly due to a decrease in child mortality rates, so it would seem obvious that the modern world is actually a healthier environment. That's true in some ways, but as it turns out life expectancy is a more complicated issue than people assume and we may not be as advanced in this regard as we like to think:

"It is generally thought that life expectancy in the past was less that it is today for our species as a whole and in the case of industrialized countries in particular. However, this belief counts as a falsehood not because it is untrue (it is, in fact, true) but because many people get this idea wrong in a few different ways." Source: "Falsehood: 'If This Was The Stone Age, I'd Be Dead By Now'", Science Blogs.

The common assumption that people routinely died at young ages back in the Stone Age, not to mention the classical and medieval periods, isn't really accurate. High rates of infant mortality and deaths due to disease, wars, hunting accidents, etc., skew the statistics and make it seem like people in the ancient world had biologically shorter lifespans. In reality they weren't that much different from us physiologically, though they were probably stronger with more endurance and acuter senses and didn't have the high level of mental disorders common to the modern world.

As usual, your lifespan depends on your particular circumstances regardless of what period you're living in. Life expectancy has increased over the last few centuries, but your quality of life declines so much in your eighties and nineties I'm not sure living longer is that much of an advantage. One way or another, though, it's difficult to see our decaying western "civilization" as natural and healthy, either physically or psychologically.

Perhaps the fact that we're vulnerable to "diseases of civilization" means that civilization itself, in many ways, is actually a kind of disease.

1783-84 Volcanic Eruption In Iceland Led To Unusually Cold Winter In Europe

Video from 2015.

"An enormous volcanic eruption on Iceland in 1783-84 did not cause an extreme summer heat wave in Europe. But, as Benjamin Franklin speculated, the eruption triggered an unusually cold winter, according to a new study. The study will help improve predictions of how the climate will respond to future high-latitude volcanic eruptions." Source: Science Daily.

Note: This violent eruption went on for about eight months and effected the climate around the world. "The consequences for Iceland, known as the Móðuharðindin or 'Mist Hardships', were disastrous. An estimated 20–25% of the population died in the famine and fluoride poisoning after the fissure eruptions ensued. Around 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses died because of dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis from the 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride that were released." (Wikipedia)

Volcanic Eruption Influenced Iceland's Conversion To Christianity

The Eldgja volcanic fissure, Iceland. Video from 2009.

"A team of scientists and medieval historians, led by the University of Cambridge, has used information contained within ice cores and tree rings to accurately date a massive volcanic eruption, which took place soon after the island was first settled." Source: Archaeology News Network (March 2018).

"Having dated the eruption, the researchers found that Iceland's most celebrated medieval poem, which describes the end of the pagan gods and the coming of a new, singular god, describes the eruption and uses memories of it to stimulate the Christianisation of Iceland. The results are reported in the journal Climatic Change."

Note: This was the Eldgja eruption of 939 AD, "the largest flood basalt in historic time," according to Wikipedia. As a result of the eruption, the summer of 940 was "one of the coolest summers in 1500 years." The eruption is apparently described in the "apocalyptic Vǫluspá (‘the prophecy of the seeress’)," the "first and best known poem in the Poetic Edda." (Wikipedia)

According to the Climactic Change paper (link above), the poem "contains literary references to the Eldgjá eruption and that these assume wider significance in the context of Iceland’s conversion to Christianity. The poem describes how the revered pagan god Odin raises a prophetess from the dead. She foretells the end of the pagan pantheon and the coming of a new (and singular) god in a series of portents, one being the rearing of a monstrous wolf that will swallow the Sun. The descriptions, found notably in stanzas 41 and 57, are strongly suggestive of an eruption of the magnitude, duration and likely impacts of the Eldgjá eruption..."