Unruly History in the News #80
Hey everyone,
Busy busy week with holiday shopping. How are you all doing?
In history acting unruly…
On this day in 1660, a woman appeared on stage for the first time in England. Most people are convinced her name was Margaret Hughes, but we can’t really be sure.
Interested in more 17th-century English women breaking barriers? My book tells the story of Aphra Behn, the first woman to make a living writing plays in England.
An emo little note from Franz Kafka is up for auction. It is the oldest piece of known writing by the author.
How did the ancient Sumerians create the world’s first writing system—and with it, create civilization?
And how did European dreams of modernization end in totalitarian despair?
Earlier this year, I reported that a sonar image might reveal what became of Amelia Earhart’s plane. Turns out it was just a bunch of rocks.
In 2011, a 28,000-year-old wooly mammoth was pulled out of the Siberian permafrost. Today, parts of it’s cells shown sign of activity.
Were the Great Pyramids built using something as simple as a ramp? (Yeah, probably.)
Speaking of Egypt, this 2200-year-old vase designed with the Egyptian deity Bes holds traces of a hallucinogenic drug that may have been used to reenact a myth.
A 200-year-old Hindu temple lost to flooding and sand migration was rediscovered recently.
The Bible doesn’t say much about demons—so how did Christians get so into demonology?
You’ve probably heard of homosapiens, you might have even heard of homohabilis—but who were the homojuluensis?
Since about the time of homohabilis, we have been fascinated by the moon—and its potential pull on our minds. Here’s a brief history of our theories about the moon and madness.
In burials…
This early Medieval burial ground in Sevastopol is yielding—among other things—some beautiful jewelry worn by rich women over a thousand years ago.
These earrings inlaid with red stone were worn by rich Goth women in what is now Crimea. Source: Crimean Federal University This tomb in ancient Egypt holds something incredibly rare: Several generations of the same family.
A 4,400-year-old jade cylindrical seal was found during excavations in Turkey. It’s the oldest known seal of it’s kind.
We often talk about the archaeological finds at Pompeii, but what about the people who survived? How did they rebuild their lives, and why are historians only just finding records of them?
For the first time in nearly 400 years, King Henry I’s private rooms are open to visitors, revealing the gorgeous view his tower had over southern England.
This survey of over 2,000 women in 1920 changes what we understand about women’s sexuality. It became America’s first sexual revolution.
Last week we talked about small silver spoons from Norfolk that might have been used for hygienic purposes. But what if ancient Germanic tribes used them to dose drugs?
A Stradivarius crafted in 1714 is going to auction and predicted to be the most expensive musical instrument ever sold this way—predictions estimate that it will go for anything between 12 million and 18 million
The Joachim-Ma Stradivarius will be sold at Sotheby’s in February. Source: Sotheby’s. About the 19th century…
Victoria was just 18 when she became Queen of England and famously transferred “from the nursery to the throne.” How did she do it?
An electrician discovered beautiful—and immaculate—17th-century frescoes hidden behind some nineteen century repairs at Rome’s Villa Farnesina.
The 1856 US election was full of anxieties about a country on the verge of a civil war, rising problems in Europe, and more.
At Shakhi Kora in Iraq, evidence has been found of a centralized government that was peacefully dismantled rather than violently overturned.
Hemingway after the 1935 hurricane that devastated the Florida Keys.
In 1952, The Great Smog descended on London, bringing traffic to a standstill and ultimately killing so many people that florists ran out of flowers and undertakers ran out of coffins.
A hoard of gold and silver coins from the reign of Emperor Nero was found in Worcestershire.
The Nebra Sky Disc—a product of the Únětice culture—was made about 4,000 years ago and discovered in Germay in 1999. It shows a very sophisticated understanding of both metalworking and astronomy, but we didn’t actually understand it very well…until now
The Nebra Sky Disc. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Okay this isn’t history exactly, but did you know that music can change how we feel about our pasts?
I haven't done any holiday shopping since my ex-wife left me in the early 1980s.