Crystal Skulls

In the late 19th century, replicas of human skulls carved from quartz crystal were being sold as pre-Columbian artifacts. They varied in size from beads to larger than life size. Some were crude and some were very well executed. Most of the publicity has been about a few excellent life size crystal carving. The collection of a Parisian antiquity dealer named Eugene Boban contained 3 crystal skulls. His collection was sold to Alphonse Pinart who donated the collection to the Trocadero Museum.

Many crystal skulls are at claimed to be of Aztec or Mayan origin prior to the arrival of Columbus. There are paranormal claims associated with these skulls. Some people have claimed that some of these skulls can produce miracles such as causing visions, curing cancer, killing people and causing premonitions of coming events. Recently, a claim has been made that if thirteen special crystal skulls can be reunited, a great disaster associated with the end of a Mayan calendar cycle in 2012 can be prevented. Many tests have been performed on crystal skulls but no evidence of any extraordinary properties have ever been found.

Although there are many carvings of human skulls in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican art, none of the crystal skulls are from documented excavations. Several crystal skulls in the British Museum were carefully examined in 1967, 1996 and 2004. The indented lines marking the teeth were carved by 19th Century rotary jewelry tools. The type of crystal used to make the skulls is only found in Madagascar and Brazil. The conclusion of the study was that those particular skulls were probably carved in the German town of Idar-Oberstein which was well know for carving things from Brazilian quartz. While this does not prove that all the crystal skulls are fakes, they probably are.

The Mystery of Duffy's Cut

Ghosts, possible murders, dead Irish men, and cholera, 180 years of mystery

Who doesn't love a good ghost story? And the story of the ghosts of Duffy's Cut is particularly rich with historical facts, as well as over a hundred years of spooky tales about the Irish immigrants who tragically died—or were murdered—there.

The first railroad tracks in the U.S. were laid by hand, reportedly over a three mile stretch in Massachusetts. Horses pulled the first carts to run on that three mile track, in 1827. By 1829, Delaware & Hudson Canal Co. put the Stourbridge Lion to work on their mine tracks, the first steam locomotive in America. The locomotive is retired as a stationary boiler when she turns out to weigh twice as much as she was supposed to, according to her builders, and is too heavy for the tracks. But locomotives and railroads were very clearly going to be a large part of the future of this young and energetic country.

Laying track was brutal work, and didn't pay well. Even slave-owners were reluctant to rent out their slaves to lay track. Like much physical labor, laying railroad track fell to migrant workers and immigrant labor. Mile after mile of the early tracks in America were built almost entirely by Irish immigrant labor. So very difficult and dangerous was the work of laying track that there's a chilling old saying about it: Under every mile of railroad track is a dead Irishman.

57 Irish workers were hired immediately upon their arrival at the docks in Philadelphia in June of 1832 by one Phillip Duffy (himself not too long off the boat from Ireland, and fluent in the language) to cut a line of track through some particularly steep and hilly terrain. Just a few weeks later, they were all dead, dumped ignominiously together into a mass grave and covered with the dirt and rock they themselves had just removed to lay track for the Main Line through a particularly difficult area, dubbed "Duffy's Cut."

For nearly a decade, Dr Frank Watson, his brother William Watson, and a team from Immaculata University have been tirelessly digging for the truth of what actually happened to those 57 young men, almost two hundred years ago. In 2009, they found the first two skulls of the men's remains, and at the same time, began to uncover an early American mystery:

Archaeological researchers excavating Duffy’s Cut, the infamous dig-site where Irish railroad workers were found buried en-mass, have uncovered two more skulls which show evidence of blunt force injuries to the skull.

While the official story in 1832 was apparently that all the workers had fallen victim to Cholera, quarantined, and abandoned to die—physical evidence suggest that several of the men were actually quite coldly and brutally murdered. Dr. Watson intends for the team to positively identify as many of the victims as they can, to contact any remaining descendants or relatives, and perhaps even return the remains to their families for a more proper burial.

Frank and William Watson have co-written a book with two other scholars, revisiting the history of these Irish railroad laborers, about the years of searching for the dead men left in Duffy's Cut, and the truth of what they've discovered buried beneath those miles of railroad track.

The Elusive Shamrock Shake

Oh the mighty seasonal shake! How you humble us! The Shamrock shake is the most famous in a line-up of McDonalds holiday shakes (which include a Pumpkin Pie shake at Thanksgiving and an utterly revolting Eggnog shake for Christmas). And like the McRib, the Shamrock shake's elusive nature has only stoked the flames of passion among its fans.

You don't see the Shamrock Shake advertised as heavily now as it was in the 1980s and 1990s. It used to be a big thing, with ads trumpeting its release up to a month ahead of time. Now, some 20 or 30 years later, a lot of people have apparently forgotten about it. But not a core group of fans, myself among them.

The Shamrock Shake is still available at select locations. The trick is to find these locations. And then, if you are a kind and decent person, to share them with others. Enter a series of websites devoted to locating Shamrock Shakes. The best of these is ShamrockShake.com, although I wish it was either integrated with Google Maps or sorted by town. Maybe one day I will get around to building my own Shamrock Shake Finder website. (Maybe!)

The Shamrock Shake is experiencing something of a resurgence, at least here in Washington. I remember going on the hunt around 2004, and finding only ONE McDonalds in the entirety of King County which carried the shakes. (The one just up the street from University Village.) Now, if reports are to be believed, you can't throw a rock without hitting a Shamrock Shake. Other states are not so lucky.

What accounts for the Shamrock Shake mystique? It surely can't be that horrible color, the palest shade of green which is just this side of "sickly." In fact, maybe it's best you don't look at the shake, frankly.

Many people find the flavor somewhat elusive. It definitely isn't a very strong flavor, for which we should probably be thankful. When told it's "mint," a lot of people react with "Ew!" But think of it this way: it's like mint chocolate chip ice cream, but without the chocolate chips.

I know that sounds weird. Just trust me on this one.

I grew up in Anchorage Alaska in the 1980s, when there were about two dozen McDonalds in the greater Anchorage area. I remember one year in high school, one of my friends set himself a lofty goal: to get a Shamrock Shake from every McDonalds in town. Considering he only had a month (the shakes are only available from March 1st to March 31st), this meant that he had to eat at McDonalds almost every day.

Dude REALLY liked Shamrock Shakes.

He came pretty close to hitting his goal, if memory serves. But I remember that by the third week of March, he had developed an alarmingly pasty complexion. Not too different from the color of a Shamrock Shake, actually. I don't think he quite made it, but he definitely gave it his all.

Think you can do better? Find a Shamrock Shake near you, and give it a try!

Photo credit: Flickr/gordasm

St. Patty’s Activities for Families

St. Patrick’s Day is next week, and while my five-year-old is still wrapping her head around it (“I can’t wait for clover day!” and “So Saint Patrick doesn’t bring presents?” and “I don’t want to be pinched by people! Pinching isn’t nice!”) I’m making plans to celebrate with her throughout the week. Sure, it’s not really that big of a holiday—in fact, it’s more of an excuse for Americans to get drunk on green beer than anything else, in my humble opinion—but it’s a lot of fun to get green and make rainbows. Plus, anything with a leprechaun associated it is worth celebrating here in our Shire!

Here are a few of the things that we’re planning on doing. Feel free to use them yourself or add to them with your own post here at Working and Parenting.

Clover Hunting: Our clover has just started to grow (I don’t get why people don’t love clover; we sure do. I wish the whole yard was clover!) and we’re going to hunt for four-leaf clovers. I’ve always wanted to find one; maybe this will be our lucky year!

Dinner at Fazolis: Okay, it’s not Irish by any means, but it’s a deal—and a lot of fun. They’re having 99 cent kids’ meals (which they have every Tuesday around here) on Tuesday along with lots of St. Pat’s activities and games for kids to play.

Green Foods: We’re totally getting our green popcorn on. We’ll also eat some broccoli, which is Wood Sprite’s favorite.

Potato Dinner: On the actual holiday, my husband is making some of his famous potatoes. We’d make corn beef and cabbage, too, if we actually liked it—but neither of us do.

Crafts, Crafts, Crafts! There are so many wonderful crafts available for this holiday. There are some adorable garland, rainbow, and leprechaun projects at No Time for Flashcards. My favorite craft site, The Crafty Crow, lists some awesome pot of gold sun catchers, split pea shamrocks, and jewelry. Another wonderful site, Pink and Green Mama, shows how to do a cool shamrock print-activity.

Ireland Flag: This simple project is going to make Wood Sprite happy because it involves her favorite thing to do—painting!

Irish Music: I have a bunch of CDs I’ve acquired over the years. The peppier, make-you-dance-ier they are, the better!

Leprechaun Books: Last year I got them too late, but this year I have them on reserve at the library, so hopefully they’ll be in by Thursday.

St. Pat’s Storytime: Our library is having three next week and we’re going to at least one of them. Your local library might be celebrating as well; give them a call and find out.

John C. H. Grabill Photographs: The Wild West as it Really was

Images of indigenous peoples, and early settlers

Grabill was a photographer who made sepia-toned photographs in the late 1800s in South Dakota and Wyoming, depicting native Americans, early settlers, and the interaction between the two populations. He sent one hundred and eight-eight images to the Library and Congress between 1887 and 1892 as part of the process of registering them images for purposes of copyright. You can click the thumbnails here to see larger images. This blog post from the Denver Post shows some selected images with captions.

Instant Mashed Potatoes: Canada's Greatest Invention?

Why Do Canadians Say the Telephone is a Canadian Invention?

I love Canada and Canadians. Canadians are always eager to point out the strengths of Canada: health care, hockey, canadian bacon and mullets stand out as my favorite Canadian things, but there are a lot of things I enjoy often as an American that I owe to Canadian inventors.

 

 

You may not know this, but according to Canadian lore and THIS SITE, Alexandar Graham Bell was Canadian. The inventor of the telephone emigrated from Scotland to Canada as a kid, which is why the Scots also claim Alexander Graham Bell as one of their haggis-eating clans-people. He moved to the United States as an adult to work at Boston University where he invented the telephone, which makes the telephone an AMERICAN INVENTION. However, as a result of Alexandar Graham Bell’s inability to pick a country and stick to it, Canada, the United States, and Scotland all claim him as their own.

 

I can understand why Canada would claim Alexander Graham Bell; there aren’t many other inventions of that caliber coming from Canadia. THIS SITE lists several hundred of Canada’s greatest contributions to the world. Some are well-known Canadian inventions—like basketball—others are not so well known.

 

Did you know that a Canadian invented the always-useful goalie mask? Or that it was a Canadian inventor who was responsible for putting instant mashed potatoes on dinner tables throughout North America? (I know you think I am making this up; if you don’t believe me, check the links. It’s 100% true—a Canadian invented instant mashed potatoes.)

 

 

To be fair to my neighbors to the north—who are probably suffering at this very moment from the frigid temperatures in their igloos—there are some remarkable Canadian inventions.  The remarkable Canadian inventions include, but are not limited to: JAVA, jetliners, Standard Time, and the Tuck-Away Handle Beer Carton. (Again, and for the last time, I am not joking. Canadians are claiming all of these as legitimate Canadian inventions and they should be taken seriously.)

 

If you’re not impressed yet with the sheer volume of great Canadian inventions, read on. Canadians invented a lot of things we use every single day. Canuck inventers  have all seasons covered; they are responsible for both the snow blower and the lawn sprinkler. YAY, Canada!

 

Not all of Canada’s inventions are going to earn them the respect that they deserve; how many people use a potato digger? And, while lots of people across the globe use garbage bags, should Canadians really be bragging about inventing the receptacles for tampons, Kleenex, rotting meat, and other shit that is unmentionable? I don’t think so.

 

Come on, Canada, we're waiting for the world's next greatest invention!

 

 

 

Isolated Tribes Should Stay That Way

When you think of isolated indigenous tribes left in the world, you probably think of very small numbers of people; I know I certainly used to. I thought, wow, there can’t be very many people on Earth who still live in a tribal environment, right? I mean, it’s 2011!

Yeah, that just shows how ignorant I am. It turns out that there are thousands of isolated tribes—also known as uncontacted or lost tribes—all across the world. They’re everywhere, from Vietnam to New Guinea, Mexico to Bolivia. None are known of in the United States, of course.

Just after some incredible footage was taken of an isolated tribe from Brazil, the public has become aware of the illegal logging situation taking place where the tribe lives. The tribe is being pushed into Peru, away from their established community where they live and thrive. One might argue that such tribes have less right to a piece of land than an illegal logging industry; after all—and please, note my sarcasm—they don’t pay taxes while the logging is probably bringing in dollars to somebody, somewhere, and isn’t that the point of living anyway?

It’s disgraceful that a practice known to be illegal cannot be stopped by the government immediately and that these people be protected, allowed to remain in their homes. If you look at the photos, they are a thriving community, healthy and resourceful with plenty to eat. I don’t mean to sound disillusioned or privileged (though surely I’m both to some extent; isn’t everyone who can read this sentence?), but I can’t imagine anything more beautiful than this natural way of life, uncorrupted by modern machines and the silly technology that—as Louis CK likes to say—is wasted on the biggest jerks who ever lived. I know nothing of their tribal system, their laws, their customs; they might practice something that I would completely disapprove of, for all I know. But at least they’re not gutting the planet, whining over cold lattes, and generally taking up space for no reason like much of the rest of mankind.

And, of course, exposure to us also means death to them, just as it did for the indigenous tribes who lived in the Americas when our ancestors came over with our weird diseases. Chicken pox would be comparable to smallpox to these tribes today. And aside from all of that, we know what happens when people plow over the land that’s being so carefully tended—and respected—by people others deem uncivilized, and the aftermath, which puts a whole new meaning to uncivilized.

It’s really not that difficult: enforce your laws, stop illegal logging, protect these people. Please write to President Garcia of Peru and ask that this be done.

Girl Gangs May Have Ruled England in 18th Century

A while back, I wrote about how the body of a female gladiator was discovered—and, while I would never be in favor of the practice of gladiators fighting to the death, it was still sort of cool to think of a really tough female gladiator, if nothing else than just to know that women were represented in history and that they were—or, at least one of them—considered as strong as men in this circumstance.

In the same way, I would never support gangs that steal, maim, kill, or engage in other harmful acts—but the fact that a 40 member girl gang may have been running around in 18th century London, doing most of the shoplifting in a ruthless and cunning fashion, well, is sort of cool.

I read somewhere that women’s history—or, more importantly, women in history as it is portrayed—is often like the lost and found department. It’s usually skipped over, and every time we hear or read anything about women in history, we’re so impressed or bewildered or simply don’t know what to do with the information. Does it change our place in time? Does it impact how women were really living throughout history, since there are so fewer accounts than those of men? (And they say that keeping a diary is a girlie thing.) How much about history that includes or impacts women do we not know? As a woman, maybe I’m biased, but I’d sure love to know more—as well as read more history books from the perspective of women rather than men.

This gang of women, the Forty Elephants, may have ruled a huge chunk of the criminal underground of London for two hundred years. That’s a pretty big chunk of history that we’ve seldom, if never, heard about, right? And like modern day females, the band of forty thieves were extremely organized and tightly run, making them a very successful operation. (I’m not trying to give modern day females any ideas, of course; just pointing out the obvious!) It was considered the most effective operation during its time period, which makes me even more convinced that women should be much more represented in politics. Not only are we 51% of the population with an enormously disproportionate level of “representation;” we also seem to operate well as criminals and if that’s the case, politics should be a piece of cake!

Olivier Messiaen - "Visions de l'Amen" (Video)

At this point Olivier Messiaen might be better known as a teacher. But during the first half of the twentieth century, this composer worked up a tremendous number of intriguing and skewed works focused on dismantling a Western construction of harmony. Not for everyone, but highly recommended.

The Domestic Cat: Ancestral History

In 2004 archaeologists investigating a Neolithic site in Cyprus discovered the grave of a small child, carefully buried with seashells, polished stones, and other decorative natural artifacts, and the skeleton of a kitten, apparently added to the grave a few months after the initial burial. The grave was made about 9,500 years ago, on the site of the Neolithic village of Shillourokambos. Previously, the earliest evidence of the close association between cats as domesticated animals and pets was Egyptian, and about 4,000 years later.

The domestic cat or "house cat," known to biologists as Felis catus, is a sub species of Felinae and is itself a sub-class of the larger class Felidae. The house cat's closest relatives include the wildcat and the Chinese Mountain cat. Felis catus, based on a ceremonial burial in Cyprus, seems to have been a human companion for at least 9,000 years, or since the Neolithic era (think Stonehenge and earlier, thousand of years before the pyramids). Technically, wild cats or Felis silvestris are the ancestral species of the smaller Felis catus; the primary distinction being that Felis catus has been selectively adapted by humans.

Felis silvestris, the Wildcat is a small cat, albeit one that is larger than all but the very largest of domestic cats. It is native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa, and like its domestic relative, it hunts mammals, birds, and other creatures of a similar or smaller size. Wildcats are currently divided into five extant subspecies: the European wildcat, the Near Eastern wildcat, the Southern African wildcat, the Central Asian wildcat and the Chinese desert cat. Recent DNA research has demonstrated that all of the domestic breeds we think of as house cats or Felis catus are descended from one of five female of the Wildcat species in the Near East known as Felis silvestris lybica, first domesticated about 10,000 years ago. The DNA of all house cats and fancy breeds of cats are descended from this Near Eastern Wildcat species, according to DNA studies by Carlos A. Driscoll published in the journal Science in 2007.

About the time of that Neolithic burial in Cyprus, farmers were growing semi-domesticated grains, especially wheat, rye and barley. Growing grain inevitably leads to storing grain, a practice that attracts rodents. Rodents attract cats, and so it seems quite likely that the conditions were perfect for a human-feline partnership to be born. One of the things that's particularly compelling about that kitten, apparently buried in a grave with its human, is that Cyprus was settled by Neolithic farmers who crossed over to the island from Turkey, and would have brought all their domesticated animals with them, including cats (there is no evidence at all of any native wildcats in Cyprus).

Image credit: Digital Medievalist; from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
C. 332–30 B.C. Egypt's Ptolemaic period

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