Unruly History in the News #74
3rd anniversary edition
Hey everyone,
Big week over here! It’s the third anniversary of the podcast! I wrote a whole post about it so I won’t rehash things here, but I am definitely having a lot of feelings about it. It’s been a crazy three years and I’m really excited for the fourth year of Unruly Figures.
I also put out a bonus episode this week about poisoned apples in myth and history. It’s probably one of my favorite things I’ve written in a long time, so check it out.
Okay, without further ado, history acting unruly in the news:
Vases recently discovered in Guatamala show us that the Maya didn’t just smoke tobacco—they drank it.
The Lion of Venice was made in China! It likely traveled along the Silk Road after being cast in China, then became “an elaborate reassembly of what was initially a zhènmùshòu (镇墓兽 “tomb guardian”) cast in the Tang period (609-907 AD).”
The Lion of Venice overlooks Piazetta San Marco. Image credit: Dario Argenti. 12,000 years ago, a shaman was buried near the Tigris River. For years, many archaeologists thought this was a simplistic hunter-gatherer culture, because they hadn’t fully “settled down” or invented pottery yet. But new evidence from the shaman’s grave reveals many twists: This might have actually been a complex temple site, and the shaman was a woman.
Speaking of ancient religion: There’s a responsibility gap in discussions of modern AI. Whose fault is it if a self-driving car hits a pedestrian? The programmer? The car itself? Well, Medieval theology might hold the answer.
There was a second assassination attempt on Trump. While it didn’t make much of a splash on social media, it’s worth looking at how often US Presidents have dealt with assassination attempts.
Speaking of royalty, the last wills of kings Richard II and Henry IV tell us much about the Medieval monarchs.
Mongolia has become a global leader in land conservation, largely by returning to abandoned Indigenous practices.
More archaeological news out of Bulgaria: an ancient Roman chariot and some mysterious structures have been found by archaeologists during excavations at a necropolis in northeast Bulgaria.
Books bans in the US have turned school libraries into battlegrounds. How did they start, and how have they changed to reflect changing values over time?
Speaking of bans, what was going on with the Roman Catholic war on wigs?
If you’re a Swiftie: Meet the original members of the Tortured Poets Department.
Speaking of music: In 1874, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a group of Black musicians from the US, toured Britain. The Victorians had never heard anything like it.
The struggles of the French Resistance during World War II.
Do you love stories of WWII resistance movements? Then you’ll love my coverage of Noor Inayat Khan.
In US schools we’re taught that Benedict Arnold was the ultimate traitor. But who was he to the British?
Nepal’s newest round of truth commissions will hopefully uncover the truth of a decade-long civil war.
Into eyeliner? In Turkey, an 8,200-year-old eyeliner pencil has just been uncovered at Yeşilova Höyük.
