Robert McAngus
Jul 28, 2017 · 5 min read

The Daily Tulip — International Archeological News From Around The World

Friday 28th July 2017

Good Morning Gentle Reader…. I can hear the excitement building as the post appears on the screen…”What have they discovered this week?” I hear the voices say.. Stuff.. Lots of stuff…. Is my response to those eager and excited readers … It’s that time again.. The Antiquarians News Report… best read with your favourite beverage close at hand as there is going to be lots of Gasping and Amazing and a few “I told you so’s” .. I would suggest you make yourself comfortable… The management of the Daily Tulip.. (That’s Bella and Me) are not responsible for any Yahoo’s that annoy the next door family, Sore throats from the Yippee’s and we wish to inform you that no animals were injured in the discoveries below….

SMALL POT UNEARTHED AT SCOTLAND’S NESS OF BRODGAR…. ORKNEY, SCOTLAND — BBC News reports that a rare small pot with a “waisted” profile has been discovered at the Ness of Brodgar, a 5,000-year-old complex of monumental stone buildings enclosed by thick stone walls. Victorian archaeologists suggested such pots could have held incense, perhaps in ceremonies, according to site director Nick Card. He added that such pots seem to be associated with the burials, but analysis of residues in the pots has been inconclusive. The pots could also have been used to carry embers for cremations, he said.

A HISTORY OF CITRUS FRUIT…. TEL AVIV, ISRAEL — Archaeobotanist Dafna Langgut of Tel Aviv University has traced the spread of citrus fruit from Southeast Asia to the Mediterranean, according to a report in Live Science. She used ancient texts, murals, coins, and other artifacts to study the ancient citrus trade, and she tracked the spread of citrus fruits from Southeast Asia into the Mediterranean through fossil pollen, charcoals, seeds, and other fruit remains. Langgut found that by the third and second centuries B.C., the citron had spread to the western Mediterranean from the Levant, where a 2,500-year-old fruit was found in a Persian-style garden in Jerusalem. The oldest lemon found in Rome dates to sometime between the late first century B.C. and the early first century A.D. She explained that, at first, lemons and citrons were reserved for the Roman elite, who prized them for their healing qualities, pleasant odor, taste, and symbolic use. She thinks sour oranges, limes, and pomelos may have been grown as cash crops more than a millennium later, which made them available to more people. “The Muslims played a crucial role in the dispersal of cultivated citrus in Northern Africa and Southern Europe, as evident also from the common names of many of the citrus types which were derived from Arabic,” Langgut said.

POSSIBLE EXTINCT HUMAN RELATIVE DETECTED IN SALIVA…. BUFFALO, NEW YORK — According to a report in The International Business Times, researchers led by Omer Gokcumen of the University at Buffalo say they detected a “ghost” species of ancient hominin while they were studying a protein that occurs in saliva and its influence on the bacteria in the human mouth. To study the protein, known as MUC7, the researchers examined the MUC7 gene in more than 2,500 modern human genomes. The researchers say a version of the gene found in people living in sub-Saharan Africa was “wildly different” from those found in other modern humans. Gokcumen explained that even the MUC7 genes from Neanderthal and Denisovan samples were closer to those of other modern human populations than the sub-Saharan variant. He thinks the variation may have been introduced to the population by an as-yet-undiscovered hominin that lived as recently as 150,000 years ago, based upon gene mutation rates.

DOG DOMESTICATION: THE SURVIVAL OF THE FRIENDLIEST?…. PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY — Live Science reports that it may have taken just a few genetic changes to transform wolves into creatures who can communicate and interact with humans. An interdisciplinary team of researchers tested the friendliness of domesticated dogs and human-socialized wolves by measuring how much time the dogs and wolves spent around humans, and if they turned to human companions for help in solving a puzzle box. The researchers then analyzed DNA samples taken from the dogs and wolves, and found the differences in social behavior correlated with variations in three genes. “Some of these structural variants could explain a huge shift in a behavioral profile — that you go from being a wolf-like, aloof creature, to something that’s obsessed with a human,” vonHoldt said. The researchers also looked at those three genes in samples from 201 dogs from 13 different breeds, some known for their friendliness, and found similar patterns in genetic variation and friendly behavior. In humans, missing DNA in the corresponding part of the genome can produce Willilams-Beuren syndrome, which is associated with exceptional gregariousness.

YORKSHIRE YIELDS A GLIMPSE OF BRITAIN’S 19TH-CENTURY INDUSTRY…. SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND — BBC News reports that excavations have recently been conducted at two early nineteenth-century steel-making sites in Yorkshire. The region was well suited to industry because iron, coal, and water power were readily available. The excavation at Hollis Croft uncovered an early cementation furnace, which was used to convert iron into blister steel. At the Titanic Works, crucible furnaces, which were developed in Sheffield, have been well preserved in three cellars. “You can see the driving force for Britain’s industrial revolution,” said archaeologist Milica Rajic of Wessex Archaeology.

FISHING WEIR IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND DATED TO NINTH CENTURY A.D….. HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND — BBC News reports that a 500-foot-long timber fishing trap found in a tidal estuary on the southern coast of England has been radiocarbon dated to the eighth or ninth centuries. At low tide in the salt marsh, fish trapped in the weir would have been easy to catch by hand or with a net. The discovery will help scientists map changes to the shoreline over the past 1,000 years. “It has highlighted the level of erosion in Southampton Water over the last few decades,” said marine archaeologist John Cooper of the University of Exeter. “There are factors like sea level rise and dredging carried out but it shows how dynamic coastal change is.”

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the archeological news from around the world this, Friday morning… …

Our Tulips today are growing in Holland overlooked by the windmills…

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it’s always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of “Colombian” Coffee and wish you a safe Friday 28th July 2017 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff….But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus

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