September 2012

Was Jesus married?

Newly discovered writing has Jesus making reference to his “wife.”

It’s been a debate that has been going around theological circles for some time, the question of whether the historical Jesus had a significant other or not.  Most evidence would suggest that the answer is indeed negative, but the study of the possibility has been plagued by religious dogma for more than 2000 years.  The various brands of the Christian religion have always been patriarchal, and the presence of an important female figure in the Bible is something that most would prefer not to address.  A new piece of evidence, however, is forcing the issue once more.

Syrian government selling its heritage

The president of Syria has hit a new low, exchanging culture for guns

As I have said on numerous occasions, antiquity selling on the black market is a huge problem that endangers peoples’ heritage and culture.  People often loot sites in order to make a profit when times are chaotic.  Some of these people are contract looters, while others are the poor and hungry who see few other options.  War is my other pet peeve, resulting in the destruction of some of the greatest pieces of our past as people suppress opposing ideas or these sites get caught in the crossfire.  While Syria undergoes its present civil uprising, it has become a free-for-all for both forms of destruction, with President Bashar al-Assad at the root of the problem.

Scientists Use DNA to Link Three Species of Men

Digging deeper into the past to discover the true origins of man

Figuring out whether humans and Neandertals have some common genetic connection is one of the great puzzle games in the field of paleoanthropology.  The evidence has been conflicting, with a general tendency for scientists to believe that interbreeding of ancient humans Neandertals did not happen.  Still, the puzzle is more complex than that.  A fairly recent discovery in Siberia of what is labeled the Denisovan man added just one more piece in the form of a 41,000-year-old finger bone.  By using DNA, scientists are now trying to connect humans, Neandertals and the Denisovan.