An article published in the July issue of Terrae Incognitae, the journal of the Society of the History of Discoveries (of which former Reinhardt faculty member Anne Good is about to become president), has been getting a certain amount […] Continue Reading…
Vikings in Newfoundland
Announced today in various places: the Vikings founded L’Anse aux Meadows exactly one thousand years ago. The abstract from Nature, where the discovery was published:
Transatlantic exploration took place centuries before the crossing of Columbus. Physical evidence for early European […] Continue Reading…
The Other Yorktown
From Gregory Urwin at Journal of the American Revolution (hat tip: Dan Franke), notice of an event that is not what most Americans would like to remember about the Revolutionary War:
On October 19, 1781, Gen. George Washington attained his […] Continue Reading…
Medieval Ghosts
From Kathryn Walton at Medievalists.net:
People have always been fascinated by ghosts. Tales of humans returned from the dead have appeared in folklore and literature from around the world for millennia. The medieval period was no different. Tales of actual […] Continue Reading…
Derek Pearsall, 1931-2021
Sad news:
Professor Derek Pearsall, co-founder with the late Professor Elizabeth Salter of the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, passed away on Thursday 14 October, aged 90. He was an enormous influence on many of us who flourished […] Continue Reading…
For Columbus Day
In The American Spectator, Armando Simón defends Christopher Columbus, claiming that he was not as bad as his current reputation holds. This does not excuse what Spanish colonialism became, of course, and the idea that “the founder was good, […] Continue Reading…
Food, Facial Structure, and “F”
From Science (hat tip: Funk Heritage Center):
When humans switched to processed foods after the spread of agriculture, they put less wear and tear on their teeth. That changed the growth of their jaws, giving adults the overbites normal in […] Continue Reading…
Some Links
• From Edward J. Watts on Yahoo News: “Rome Didn’t Fall When You Think it Did”:
In September of 476 AD, the barbarian commander Odoacer forced the teenaged Western Roman emperor Romulus Augustus to resign his office. The Constantinopolitan chronicler Marcellinus Comes would […] Continue Reading…
The Battle of Lepanto
Adjunct instructor Tim Furnish remembers the Battle of Lepanto, fought 450 years ago:
On this date, 450 years ago, the combined naval forces of Europe’s Catholic states, the “Holy League,” saved Western civilization. The Ottoman Empire, which ruled not just […] Continue Reading…
Pushin’ Back the Date
From NBC News (hat tip: Funk Heritage Center):
David Bustos heard about the “ghost tracks” when he first went to White Sands National Park in New Mexico to work as a wildlife scientist in 2005. When the ground was wet […] Continue Reading…