Unruly History in the News #11
Happy New Year (in Wales), six ancient archaeological discoveries, and a better understanding of the lives of enslaved peoples in South Carolina
Los Angeles is under flood warning, a sentence I never though I’d have to say but have thought about non-stop all week. There have been several small mudslides near my house, and giant sinkholes opening up in roads. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the end of this city as we know it.
How are you all? Let me know how your week was in the comments.
This week in history acting unruly…
January 1 was two weeks ago, but one town in Wales, Cwm Gwaun, celebrates the New Year on January 14. The city still honors the Gregorian calendar, which the rest of Britain switched away from in the 1750s.
Children in Cwm Gwaun go door to door to sing for calennig, a special New Year’s Gift, in 1961. Geoff Charles/National Library of Wales. Maya Angelou thrived in a few careers—including streetcar conductor, dander, and journalist—before becoming a writer.
Thinking about abandoning social media? Well, buckle up kids, morse code is back.
In recovered ancient ruins:
This newly uncovered statue of Pharoah Psamtik I is unique and rare. New 3D modeling shows it was over 20 feet tall and depicted the ‘forgotten’ pharoah with his left arm outstretched.
Ancient Roman ruins washed up on the coast of Amastris, Turkey after a bad storm.
A rare ‘high-status’ Viking tomb was found in a garden in Oslo. Interestingly, he was cremated, but his ashes were buried with a variety of goods.
And in more Viking news, a giant hall possibly connected to Harald Bluetooth was found in Denmark. Bluetooth (also known as Harald Blåtand) is responsible for bringing Christianity to Denmark and also helped unify Denmark and Norway. (And yes, the Bluetooth on your phone is named after our friend here—it unites communication protocols/devices the way Harald united tribes.)
An aerial survey in Guatemala has revealed an as-yet-uncovered Mayan site that is roughly 650 square miles. Can’t wait to see what we learn this ancient civilization.
Experts are still trying to figure out how the Pylos Combat Agate was created. The piece is “incomprehensibly small” with details that you’d need a magnifying glass to see today—technology that we thought the Minoans who created it didn’t have.
Some artistic details of the Pylos Combat Agate are just half a millimeter in size! We cannot figure out how people 3,500 years ago did this. Source. Seven incredible inventions that were discovered accidentally. (Yes, penicillin is on the list.)
The 9,000-year-old Jericho Skull has a new face thanks to updates in facial reconstruction.
Was Pharaoh Ramses II… a hot dad? Maybe his handsomeness helped him maintain his throne for over 60 years.
Back in 2013, folks in South Carolina discovered a cemetery for enslaved people (a rare thing indeed). Recent DNA testing has confirmed some things—like the fact that enslaved people were denied the right to be buried with family—but it also revealed that people were kidnapped from across Africa for the slave trade, not just the western coast. One skeleton also revealed mixed African/Indigenous American heritage, testifying to multigenerational interactions between these two groups. Now called the Anson Street Ancestors, further testing of their DNA for genealogical research is ongoing.
In a horror-story-sounding history mystery, an entire ancient population in Siberia just…vanished. The same excavation finding this also proved that people were moving from Asia to North America across the Bering Strait... and back!
The pylos combat agate is fascinating and incredible. How on earth did they do that!!? What an amazing find but what an mystery to be solved. I can’t wait to hear more about the “how” someone comes up with.