By: The Scribe on Thursday, September 13, 2007
Judging by two Neanderthal molars recently found in the Madrid region, these human ancestors which today’s population often refers to as “cavemen” – meaning this in a derogatory way that suggests they were unclean, unhygienic, and unintelligent – apparently had far better oral hygiene than a good deal of the earth’s modern population…
That’s right – not only do dentists and health professionals implore you to brush twice a day, but it turns out that even Neanderthals knew the value of a clean mouth! These two teeth were perfectly preserved – even though they date to around 63,400 BC – and they show the same amount of wear that might be found on a typical 30-year-old human of today!
The clues that suggest these people took their oral health seriously are several grooves along the top of the teeth, which would have been formed by the passage of a pointed object across the teeth on a regular basis. This confirms that a small stick was used regularly to clean the mouth and teeth.
As predecessors of modern humans, some people may find it unusual to think that a population typically considered ‘less intelligent’ than today’s humans had the forethought to take their oral health into consideration – whereas there are plenty of countries in the world today where using a toothbrush simply isn’t a part of routine health care.
Determining the kind of implement that was used in Palaeolithic times to clean one’s teeth is another matter entirely, since the first “modern” toothbrush wasn’t thought to have been invented until sometime around 1600 AD in China. However, some Muslim populations actually still use something called a ‘miswak’ to clean their teeth, which is essentially a natural toothbrush that is made from the twigs of the Salvadora persica tree!
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Tomorrow: Ancient Egyptian flowers!
By: The Scribe on Wednesday, September 12, 2007
No matter which what you call it, Incan khipu/quipu were recording devices created and used throughout the Incan Empire, made out of colored strings – generally spun and plied from alpaca or llama hair – with information encoded on them by a complex system of knots. It was originally believed that these khipu only contained numeric values, however there are theories that some strands of knots contained a form of binary code that was capable of recording words, or “logographic” information. If that is the case, that may mean that the Incan khipu contain stories of the people’s history and past.
Unlike other Bronze Age civilizations, the Incan Empire did not seem to develop their own written language. They created monumental structures, accomplished incredible architectural feats, invented excellent pieces of technology and were highly skilled at urban planning, and definitely knew how to mobilize people and resources to maximize their effectiveness when needed – needless to say, the Incans were very intelligent people. However… it seems that they just simply didn’t feel the need to write anything down. As a result, they created their own recording system through knotted strings and cords, which was likely developed simply due to the practical need for resource tracking.
The problem is, no one has yet been able to completely decipher the vast amounts of khipu left behind by these people. There’s no doubt that some of the knotted strands were used for things like tax accounting, census records, and general numerical information concerning livestock and farming resources, and these records would have been under the care of basic community administrators. Historians know that the Incans used a decimal or base 10 system of counting, and so the khipus that contain this numerical information have been “read”…but the tide of thought about whether this was the only use is beginning to change.
Since the Incan people were using a decimal system of counting, there is a distinct possibility that they learned how to utilize a binary system to convey other information – much like the way that computers work with information, using distinct combinations of the numbers 1 & 0. After all, of the 700 or so known khipu that still exist, only about 2/3 of them are thought to be arranged in a numerical pattern – leaving open the distinct possibility that the other third may be narrative material that holds the key to stories and information about Incan history.
In 2005, researchers at Harvard University in Boston found that several khipu contained a repeated 3-knot pattern in some of the strings, and after a great deal of investigation, they concluded that this kind of knot pattern may in fact be indicative of a place-name, or ‘toponym’. Even if this place-name identification is only found in some of the accounting documents, it still marks the first time that an actual word has been identified rather than simply a number – and if the Incans were able to convey specific place names… why wouldn’t they have been able to record additional information with words in other khipu?
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Tomorrow: Colgate Cavemen!
By: The Scribe on Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Although the majority of fossil finds that come down to modern day tend to suggest that everything from insects to trees to animals were larger in ancient times, a recent discovery from a cave in China has reversed the trend, finding that – two or three million years ago – panda bears were much, much smaller than their descendants now living in Chinese forests.
It was inside a limestone cave in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region that a team of scientists discovered a small bear skull, embedded right into the wall. Further examination of the skull revealed that it did, in fact, belong to an ancient panda bear that lived in the forests of southern China. Judging by the skull’s features, these ancestral pandas were almost exactly the same in appearance as the Giant pandas who live today – except that they were about half the size!
Essentially, these miniature giant pandas were pygmy versions of the bears living today, even to the point of having already adapted a diet of bamboo – this can be identified by looking at the jaws and teeth of the skull, which actually needed to be stronger and more durable than a typical bear’s jaw, in order to grind down such tough plant material.
In addition, modern Giant pandas have what is known as a “false thumb”, which actually helps them to strip the leaves off stalks of bamboo, and scientists are hopeful that more fossils of the pygmy pandas will turn up in the near future, in order to determine whether these ancient creatures also had this mutation.
Oddly enough, about a million years ago, Giant pandas actually became bigger than the enormous sizes of today’s pandas, which seems to suggest that panda evolution has shifted back and forth in response to the bears’ environment and food supply. However, it is still strange that such a tiny panda lived several million years ago, since he would have shared the forest with other such creatures as the 4-meter-tall Stegodon, an ancestor of mammoths and later on, elephants. Also living at the same time was an ape called the Gigantopithecus, who was actually two or three times bigger than today’s gorillas.
It certainly would have been an interesting sight to see these diminutive panda bears walking amidst the giants…!
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Tomorrow: Those Knotty Incans
By: The Scribe on Monday, September 10, 2007
No, it’s not a splash of spilled ink… the ancient Norse blot was actually a pagan sacrifice to the Norse gods and the Elves, held at several times throughout the year. The sacrifice typically took the form of a sacramental feast or meal, and the sacrificial victims tended to be pigs and horses. The meat from these festivals was then boiled in enormous cooking pots heated by stones, and the blood from the animals was sprinkled on the community’s statues of their gods, on the walls, and on the people, as it was believed to hold special magical powers.
The word “blota”, from which the sacrificial festival took its name, means “to worship with sacrifice” in Old Norse, and the people would gather around the boiling pots of meat as it cooked, believing they were having a meal with the Elves! They also passed around a drink that was blessed and considered sacred, each person taking a drink as the cup came into their hands. Typically, the drink would be either beer or mead, while the high-class nobility often imported wine just for the occasion!
Several blots were held throughout the year, one in October and then later on, one in December called “The Great Midwinter Blot.” Interestingly enough, the tradition of eating ham at the December blot has continued, as it still tends to be the main course at Christmas feasts in Scandinavian countries. Around April, a third ‘summer’ blot was held in honor of the god Odin, celebrating the beginning of the season of war and Viking raid expeditions.
Blots were actually held in their own little blot buildings called ‘hovs’, however most hovs were destroyed or built over during Christianization of the area – namely, medieval churches were built overtop these spots in an effort to redeem the land. Several laws were also put into place that forbade various forms of pagan worship, but the traditions were so ingrained into the local culture that elements of the rituals have survived until today, such as the Christmas tradition.
Each Scandinavian country had their own variations on each blot throughout the year, though the basic concept remained the same: kill a pig, have dinner with elves!
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Tomorrow: more Ancient Standard!
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