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Callaecus

Plebes
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Posts posted by Callaecus

  1. Another question...were these sacrifices done in order to bring normal rain, or in order to break drought? If the sacrificed children were ill, perhaps this is a clue, that they were sacrificed in order to break a drought.

    Human sacrifices are the most desperate of them all and are only done in exceptional circumstances. Your suggestion of a severe drought is possible, though a desperate military or an epidemic situation can also be envisaged.

  2. Weak theory. The bone is insufficient evidence. Just because it is common among the Incas, doesn't mean that it cannot also appear among others. Besides, how could the Vikings found the Incas, if the later lived in the other coast of the American continent? The Viking voyages were remarkable; there is no need to invent history in order to make them even more remarkable.

  3. For what it's worth however, I happen to side with Maladict on this one in that it will still need to be a tool for experts.

     

    It may well make it easy for volunteers to operate & help out in digs but I don't like the idea of a bunch of amateurs running around with sophisticated ground penetrating radar making wild claims on what is buried underneath them.

    If that's your only objection then don't worry since, in what concerns me, it's fine that such machinery is only operated by experts. My main intention is, instead, to distribute for as many persons as possible the results of such survey in order to allow that everyone can do virtual diggings. Notice that something similar happened in the 15th/16th centuries with the invention of the press and a wider literacy, something that allowed more people to read old documents and participate in historical research. Actually, this forum, where most of its members are amateurs, is an example of that, since most of the sources used here are written ones. What I'd like to happen in the future is something similar with archaeology.

  4. Maladict

     

    Let me explain you some things about archaeology:

     

    Perhaps I should tell you at this point that you are talking to an archaeologist, and one who has had firsthand experience with looting on numerous occasions. Let's just let this rest, shall we? :lol:

    Are you pulling rank on me, Maladict? Have you ever considered that I may be an archaeologist too?

  5. In terms of a biography, him and Scullards are the only works I know of; and the latter is superior. Of general histories of the period, there is Goldsworthy "Punic Wars" along with Nigel Bagnall.

     

    Not much out there on the era but I will say that the few available are more detailed and far more scholarly.

    Thanks for the info, but I didn't explain myself better before. What I'd like to know is if you don't mind comparing with a couple of good examples the book of Liddel Hart and another one and show us the differences.

  6. I think that Leiddel Hart's biograpghy about Scipio is very reliable

     

    Reliable possibly for the layman with only the most basic knowledge of the history in question. Any modern work(unfortunately Scullards is no longer in print, a far superior work) is likely to be considerably better then this brief work.

     

     

    I'm not sure what you mean with better. Do you care to give a couple of exampls?

  7. Sometimes we dig a little too deep looking for the answer when it actually is right on the surface. Why is 'race' a four letter (dirty) word? We see 'race' every day. It's a fact; politically correct or not.

    The interpretation of the geneticist is clearly political , assuming that biggest division among humans today is physical and if we just start mixing with each other, then one new "race" would emerge and all our problems would disapear. That's gross, ridiculous and naive, since divisions among humans are caused by cultural factors.

  8. Maladict

     

    Let me explain you some things about archaeology:

     

    Archaeologists study the past through its material dimension. That means that today you need to dig the objects but if in the future there is technology that allows archaeologists to know what lies beneath the ground, physical excavations become redundant. This also means that it

  9. I think that both theories - humans mixing with each other or killing each other - are not correct.

    In the first case, there is no evidence that any sexual contact between humans of different species would allow that children could be born and, if so, if they wouldn't also be sterile like mules. The author assumes that humans bred because

     

    Instead, he said his analysis of the human genome showed prehistoric gene-swapping created a single evolutionary lineage beginning in Africa and ending where we are today.

     

    He looked at mitochondrial DNA, as well as DNA on a range of chromosomes including X and Y.

     

    "The genetic legacy of current humans is predominantly of African origin," he said.

     

    Templeton is the first to suggest expansion out of Africa occurred in three waves: 2 million years ago, 800,000 years ago and 100,000 years ago.

    Yet, this doesn't mean that all these waves mixed because groups of the first two waves also stayed in Africa (the third wave is Homo Sapiens Sapiens), and since Homo Sapiens Sapiens developped in Africa it obviously incorporates elements of groups from which it descends.

     

    As for the war theory, notice that recently more and more diverse human groups have been found in the archaeological record. And the many differences among them were the result of living isolated, which means that with time they end up developing certain genetic traits. What caused the extinction of many of these groups was not war. And how could it be? The world is large and these human groups had a small number. It is calculated that 10.000 years ago there weren

  10.  

    I'm not sure what your objection is.

     

    I was thinking more along the lines of treasure hunting and illegal digging. Most archaeological remains should be kept unknown and unseen as long as possible.

    I don't think that's a problem. The purpose of excavations is to register that data. Once the same thing is possible to do with ground radars and virtual digs it's irrelevant if the artifact is later looted or not. Anyway, if the possibility of looting bothers you that can easily be erradicated simply through an international agreement that removes market value for artifacts.

  11. Lepanto was not that important in the general scheme of things.

    The Ottomans rebuilt their fleet within a year iirc and the battle did nothing to prevent the ongoing decline of Venetian maritime power.

    The rebuilt of the fleet was mostly a show-off, since most of the wood was green. But the worst was the loss of tens of thousands of experient sailers and archers. You can't substitute that in a year. The truth is that after Malta and Lepanto any possibility of the Ottomans dominating the entire Mediterranean collapsed and they had to settle for its eastern part.

  12. For "dirtier" words you might want to look out "The Latin Sexual Vocabulary" by JN Adams - Duckworth, London 1982.

     

    Yes, Adams is an excellent source. There is a not bad Wikipedia article on bad words Latin profanity which I noticed by chance the other day.

    Hey, this is amazing. Most of the words mentioned in the Wiki article are still routinelly used in Portuguese and one of them - merda ($hit) - is exactly the same. Maybe because it is the most routinely used explitive, thus the reason it didn't suffer any change after thousands of years. :oops:

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