Unruly History in the News #1

A new round-up of fun, weird, or surprising history across the internet

Hi everyone,

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that I read a lot of history writing every week. Like, a lot! People think history is so stagnant, but we are literally discovering new things about our shared history every single day. So every Sunday, I’m going to start creating a round-up of wild, wacky, and weird (or super important) history I read that week. Enjoy!

This week in history acting unruly…

• The inventor of the plastic flamingo, Don Featherstone, has a wild and wacky personal history that is also equal parts adorable (matching outfits for 40 years? C’mon!) .

• A bright history of school buses.

• Archaeologists in Prague are uncovering one of the oldest structures in Europe—an almost fully intact Neolithic roundel. There are around 200 known roundels around, but this one seems to be the most intact yet. We don’t know what they were used for though—religious rights, trading centers? Maybe this one will yield answers.

• Zahi Hawass, a prominent Egyptologist, claims to have found Nefertiti’s lost remains. This is the fourth such claim in recent years—we’ll see if it pans out.

• A rare gold mask was found (among other treasures) in royal Chinese tombs in Sanxingdui. The mask dates to at least 3,000 years ago and proves that the concept of “bubaijinshen, or an imperishable gold body” has existed since at least the Shang dynasty.

  

  Photo from the South China Morning Post.

• This is a bit dry, but if you’ve been following the news about Mahsa Amini’s death and the protest responses in Iran, it might be time to brush up on the 1979 Iranian revolution and the enforcement of sharia law.

• If you think you’re too smart to be prone to illogical beliefs… think again.

• Legend has it that Emperor Nero ate the last silphion stalk. It was a miracle plant said to cure any number of illnesses, and it’s loss was the first recorded extinction event. But pharmacognostic Mahmut Miski thinks it survived after all.

• Did you know Miguel de Cervantes was kidnapped by pirates and held hostage for five years? The ordeal might have contributed Don Quixote.

• Let’s talk piety and profits, because they’re far more linked than you think.

That’s all for this week, folks. Can’t wait to see what historians and archaeologists uncover next week. Subscribe now to get these weekly updates right in your inbox.

Have you heard the most recent episode yet? From now on, all episodes of the podcast will be free for everyone! So check out this episode on Queen Kubaba now!

Episode 18: Queen Kubaba

Until next time, stay unruly.