Focus on History: New History Sites and Bloggers

I absolutely love being a history and travel blogger, as it allows me to meet individuals I would never get the chance to on an everyday basis. In the past two days, two very special sites have landed themselves on the Ancient Digger Blogroll.

The first of these special additions is Border Jumpers, which was an idea from the minds of two very special individuals. You can follow Bernard Pollack and Danielle Nierenberg as they travel in Africa to meet with farmers, activists, non-governmental organization (NGOs), the funding and donor communities, and local, regional, and international press. Their goal is educate the masses about workers and residents and their living conditions, as well as the subject of poverty, and how people in Africa are combating that issue.

Here's an excerpt from their latest post:

We’ve taken some long bus rides in Africa. We spent eight bumpy hours on a bus from Nairobi to Arusha and another eight from Arusha to Dar Es Salaam.

The longest so far, though, has been between Kigali, Rwanda and Kampala, Uganda. As usual, we were looking out the window, admiring the crops growing by the side of the road, desperately trying not to think about how we had to pee, and trying not to panic about how fast our bus driver was maneuvering between other buses, cattle, and street vendors hawking roasted corn, bananas, and pineapples on the side of the road. 

Read more about 1000 Words fr4om Rwanda

Our second new addition is Boatswain and Bateremia . This particular site is run by Jared Wasser and focuses on maritime and naval history,with the added addition of medicine, since Jared is a student of medicine. Together, the two subjects merge to create a fascinating and well written site about the history of maritime medicine.

Here's an excerpt from his latest post:

Rice.  One of the most prominent and relied-upon staples, cooked in any variety of dishes the world over, and a vital source of nutrition for millions of people on our planet.  I love it; one of my favorite foods that, at times, it seems I just cannot get enough of.  However, this seemingly innocuous ellipsoid was, at one point, the source of an illness that ravaged a large portion of the Royal Fleet in the 18th and 19th centuries.  One arguably more virulent and more mysterious than that of even the famous scurvy.  The disease I speak of is called beriberi; an illness which killed many sailors in the age of sail, and perplexed physicians and surgeons for around a century.

Read more about the story of Berberi

Most Vicious and Cannibalistic Prehistoric Creatures

During the Pre-Historic Era, certain creatures and species were limited in their access to food supplies, and so they were forced to feed on their own kind, giving them the ability to sustain their lives a bit longer.

Majungatholus

 

In 1998, paleontologist/anatomist Scott Sampson from the New York College found a Majungatholus skull, making it the most well preserved dinosaur skull ever found. Sampson said, "It's the kind of face that only a mother could love. It had textured, convoluted bone all over the surface of the skull which probably had skin tightly adhering to it. It had this horn-like structure on the top of the head between the eyes and another projection at the back of the skull as well."

Image via Wikipedia

Teeth marks along with serrated smaller notches were found embedded on the Majungatholus measuring the same width as the teeth on the dinosaur itself, implying that it may have been involved in a struggle with the same species.

Neanderthals

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Around 43,000 years ago, the Neanderthals were turning to cannibalism—even brain-eating. Discoveries of fossil remains suggest that these prehistoric humans looked entirely different from their northern counterparts. The Osteology of this species clearly suggests signs of dismemberment and skinning.

Image via Wikipedia

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Cannibalistic actions included cutting of the flesh, using small stone tools and smashing open the skull using larger tools to access the brain and marrow.

Image via Wikipedia

 

Source

“Reports of the Neandertals (often spelled "Neanderthals") ate their own kind, says paleoanthropologist Antonio Rosas of the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid. Rosas is the lead researcher for the study, which is published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

Anasazi

MesaVerde

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Around 900 AD in the Chaco Canyon, the Anasazi of the southwestern U.S. routinely "processed their colleagues . . . skinned them, roasted them . . . severed their joints . . . and put the pieces into pots. This gives an entire new meaning to vicious and bizarre." Unfortunately, history has continued to be a distressing chronicle of man's inhumanity to man. Today, Chaco Canyon is a Mecca for New Agers. They like to believe that Anasazi existed in full harmony with nature. However, the archaeological evidence is exceedingly “inconvenient for those who argue that man in his natural state was good and that civilization as we know it is evil.”

Cave Bears

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Scientists have always believed that these creatures were gentle, feeding solely on vegetables and fruits. However, bones were discovered in the Carpathians - the mountains where Dracula supposedly dwelt – suggesting that cave bears could have also been cannibals. Ongoing studies of their bones and other accessory organs suggest that only a certain cave bear, dwelling in the Carpathians were carnivorous. They had high levels of Nitrogen 15 in their bones, which was highly bizarre considering that cave bears normally had low levels of Nitrogen-15.

Ultimately, Cave bears died out around 20,000 years ago when the ice had dominated the earth.