Welcome to the 10th episode of 'History News This Week.' Please note that 'History News This Week' will be online every Sunday at 09:30 PM Indian Standard Time i.e. 04:00 PM GMT.
Links to the news items, latest released book and the history podcast recommendation of the week below:
Two 10th-Century Stone Idols, Which Were Stolen From a Temple in India and Found in a Garden Shed in the U.K., Will Be Repatriated
Stone tools and camel tooth suggest people were in the Pacific Northwest more than 18,000 years ago
Elite Roman man buried with sword may have been 'restrained' in death
Humans were in South America at least 25,000 years ago, giant sloth bone pendants reveal
Elite Bronze Age tombs laden with gold and precious stones are 'among the richest ever found in the Mediterranean'
X-ray scans reveal 'hidden mysteries' in ancient Egyptian necropolis paintings
Zapotec 'entrance to underworld' discovered under Catholic church in Mexico
'Eye-catching' gold hair ring and Britain's oldest wooden comb found in Bronze Age burial
Research group deciphers enigmatic ancient 'unknown Kushan script'
Did Alexander the Great have any children?
What was the longest-lasting civilization?
How Early Humans First Reached the Americas: 3 Theories
Links to order 'Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy' below:
Amazon India
Amazon USA
Link to History Podcast of the week below:
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
ShivKaal app on Google Play Store.
And don't forget to checkout Historylogy.com for latest book reviews and tidbits from the pages of history.
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Coming up: History News This Week - Episode: 010
Namaste Friends. My name is 'Shinil Subramanian Payamal' and you are listening to the Historylogy podcast.
Welcome to the 10th episode of History News This Week. Please note that History News This Week will be online every Sunday at 09:30 PM Indian Standard Time i.e. 04:00 PM GMT.
This week I have more interesting news than usual from around the world. So let's dive in.
First up is news from the UK where two 10th-century stone idols that were stolen from a temple in the village of Lokhari, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have been recovered from an English woman’s garden shed.
They were likely taken by an illegal smuggling network operating out of Rajasthan and Mumbai, according to the Times of India, and were easy to steal as these kinds of idols are not traditionally locked up.
They will be formally returned to the Indian government during a special handover ceremony at the High Commission of India in London on the 15th of August, which is India’s Independence Day.
Second news is from North America.
Stone tools and the teeth of an extinct camel and bison discovered in central Oregon show that people were living in North America 18,250 years ago, new research finds. Although this is not the earliest date for human occupation of the Americas that has been proposed, the finding, which is not yet published in a peer-reviewed study, appears to be thousands of years older than any other archaeological site in Oregon.
Third news is again from the UK.
In an isolated field near a Roman villa in Wales, archaeologists have discovered the skeleton of a man buried face down. Adorned with a silver pin and a sword, he may have been a Roman soldier — but large nails near his neck, back and feet offer tantalising evidence that he was restrained at death.
This burial and four others, which date to the mid-third to the late-fourth centuries, were discovered by Red River Archaeology, a U.K.-based archaeological firm, during a road improvement project near the town of Barry in south Wales. Archaeologists think the burials may be associated with the Whitton Lodge Roman villa, which was originally excavated half a century ago.
Fourth news is from South America.
The date that humans arrived in South America has been pushed back to at least 25,000 years ago, based on an unlikely source: bones from an extinct giant ground sloth that were crafted into pendants by ancient people.
Discovered in the Santa Elina rock shelter in central Brazil, three sloth osteoderms — bony deposits that form a kind of protective armor over the skin of animals such as armadillos — found near stone tools sported tiny holes that only humans could have made.
The finding is among the earliest evidence for humans in the Americas, according to a paper published on Wednesday (12th July) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Fifth is about hundreds of ancient artefacts, including headbands of pure gold, have been unearthed from elite Bronze Age tombs on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
The finds show the great wealth of the people buried there, which was based on the island's trade in copper — a crucial metal at that time that was used to make bronze.
The artefacts include many imported into Cyprus from other major cultures in the region, including the Minoans on Crete, the Mycenaeans in Greece and the ancient Egyptians.
Sixth news is from Egypt.
X-ray scans reveal 'hidden mysteries' in ancient Egyptian necropolis paintings. More than 3,000 years ago, ancient Egyptian artists flubbed a royal portrait that was discovered in a tomb within a vast necropolis, a new study suggests.
The painting, of the pharaoh Ramesses II (reign circa 1279 B.C. to 1213 B.C.), is in the tomb of an official named Nakhtamun, who was buried near Thebes (modern day Luxor).
Seventh news is from Mexico.
A hidden "entrance to the underworld" built by the ancient Zapotec culture has been discovered beneath a Catholic church in southern Mexico, according to a team of researchers using cutting-edge ground-scanning technology.
The complex system of underground chambers and tunnels was built more than a millennium ago by the Zapotec, whose state arose near modern-day Oaxaca (pronounced: WaaHaaKaa) in the late sixth century B.C. and grew in grandeur as people created monumental buildings and erected massive tombs filled with lavish grave goods.
Eighth news is from Wales, UK where archeologists have unearthed a glitzy, golden hair-ring and the oldest wooden comb ever found in the U.K. from a roadside burial pit dating back to the Bronze Age.
The pit contained the 3,000-year-old remains of a person who was cremated with the glamorous artefacts, which may have facilitated the "extremely rare survival" of the comb as charcoal, according to a statement.
Ninth news is from Tajikistan.
The Kushan Empire in Central Asia was one of the most influential states of the ancient world. A research team at the University of Cologne's Department of Linguistics has now deciphered a writing system that sheds new light on its history.
A team of early career researchers at the University of Cologne has succeeded in decoding a script that has been puzzling scholars for more than 70 years: the so-called "unknown Kushan script."
The next 3 are interesting articles which I am sure will be of interest to you.
First, did Alexander the Great have any children?
Alexander the Great ascended the Macedonian throne at age 20 and died just 12 years later, having conquered one of the largest empires in the ancient world. During that time, did he father any children, and, in the power vacuum following his death, what happened to these heirs?
In a word: yes. Alexander had one and possibly even two children — both sons. One, known as Alexander IV, was his son with his wife Roxana. The other, known as "Heracles of Macedon," was his son with Barsine, his mistress.
Second, what was the longest-lasting civilization?
Ancient Egypt, China and Mesopotamia are all frequently cited as long-lasting civilizations, enduring for thousands of years. But which of these societies lasted the longest? It turns out, that's not a straightforward question, for a few reasons.
First, modern historians and archaeologists don't agree on a single definition of a civilization, including when one begins and when one ends, and many experts are doubtful whether civilizations can be measured in this way.
Third, how Early Humans First Reached the Americas: 3 Theories
According to most archeologists and geneticists, the best theory for how the first humans migrated to the Americas is the same one that many likely learned in grade school: they crossed the Bering Strait from Asia via a now-extinct land bridge.
In this article there is evidence for three theories explaining how the first humans arrived in America: the land bridge theory, the trans-Pacific migration theory and the controversial Solutrean hypothesis.
Latest History book release of the week:
In his new book, ‘Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy,’ Colin Dickey charts the history of America through its paranoias and fears of secret societies, while seeking to explain why so many people—including some of the most powerful people in the country—continue to subscribe to these conspiracy theories.
History podcast recommendation of the week:
Dan Carlin’s ‘Hardcore History’ is our pick for this week. Despite his aggressive dedication to blowing our minds, persuading us to rethink everything we thought we knew, Dan is a supreme storyteller and his shows - which often stretch to well over four hours in duration - are utterly gripping if you’re in the mood.
Before I sign off for this week, I would like to recommend an interesting History related app on the Google Play Store. Maneesh Godbole, a young researcher and author of the book 'The Walking Brahmin' has come up with an app called 'ShivKaal' that gives the chronological timeline and 'On this Day' from 1293 CE to 1680 CE.
I will provide links to all the news items, book, podcast and the app mentioned above in the show notes. Please feel free to check them out.
Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the ‘History News This Week’. Hope you found it interesting. Please don't forget to subscribe to the Historylogy podcast on your favourite podcasting app and check Historylogy.com for book reviews and interesting tidbits from the pages of History. Looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great day and take care. Bye!