Unruly History in the News #4

Whew, it was quite a week in the unruly household—I think I’ve adopted a little stray cat, though he isn’t completely comfortable in the house yet. How was your week? Let’s connect in the comments.

This week, in history acting unruly…

• A duck-billed dinosaur was found partially mummified, and the way it was preserved might surprise you.

  

  Image credit: Rapanui Municipality/AFP/Getty Images.

• Arson on Easter Island has caused a lot of damage to sacred moai statues and the quarry from which the stone was excavated. Several of the heads cracked and all were charred. The suspect has not been caught.

• When the Bubonic Plague resurfaced in Honolulu and San Francisco in the early 20th century, residents blamed Chinese Americans. The government’s response was devastating to local communities.

• A large wave of Puerto Ricans moving to New York in the 1940s and 1950s set the stage for salsa music to take root.

• In Alaska, a typhoon revealed a large preserved mammoth bone. The complete femur was just… lying in the mud!

• Clear your calendars for summer 2039, because this wine festival in Switzerland only happens once every twenty years.

• The wreck of Shackleton’s Endurance has been found, but a new problem is presenting itself: How to preserve it. Left alone, it will decay away, but raising any ship that’s been underwater for very long presents a host of other problems.

• Learn about the desperate scramble to save winter in the Alps and prevent hundreds of families from returning to poverty.

• Fuck yeah! A punk rock museum is opening in Las Vegas. It’s being called “a love letter to punk rock” and will be the only museum of its kind in the US.

• A history of exorcism, perfect for spooky season.