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LIVE LIVE - The Car Festival Of Lord Jagannath | Rath Yatra | Puri, Odisha

LIVE - The Car Festival Of Lord Jagannath | Rath Yatra | Puri, Odisha)

‘The Emperor and the Elephant’ by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby review

‘The Emperor and the Elephant’ by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby review JamesHoare

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Former EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison reveals she had womb cancer

Fergison, who played Heather Trott in the soap, revealed she had a hysterectomy due to her diagnosis.

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Flatley recalls being warned not to embarrass Irish dancing

The Riverdance performance at Eurovision 30 years ago was credited with changing Irish dancing.

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Shardlake series author CJ Sansom dies age 71

The Scottish author was working on an eighth Shardlake novel when he died, his editor says.

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Casa Buonarroti digitizes Michelangelo’s drawings

The Casa Buonarroti museum in Florence has embarked on a new project to digitize figure studies, architectural designs and handwritten notes by Michelangelo and make the ultra-high resolution images available on their website. The goal is to upload the most significant drawings in the Casa Buonarroti’s collection to create an online catalogue of Michelangelo’s greatest works on paper, and now first 20 pages have now been uploaded.

The 20 pages include some recto and verso (front and back) sheets, denoted on the thumbnail with two arrows in the upper right corner. It’s a fascinating glimpse into Michelangelo’s art and life, seeing, for example, an iconic image like the dynamic male nude preparatory study for his Battle of Cascina fresco on one side of the page and his literal shopping list on the other. Or anatomical studies for one of his Pietà sculptures backed by anatomical studies for figures in the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.

The digitization of these materials gives artists, scholars and anyone else with even a passing interest access to works that are too fragile to be widely handled. The paper has to be protected from exposure to light, fluctuating temperatures and humidity levels, so the sheets are kept in carefully controlled environments. The pages were conserved before digitization, removing the artifacts of previous interventions and revealing some drawings that were obscured by flawed restoration attempts. Each sheet is also extensively annotated with background information, transcripts of texts and historic and artistic commentary.

Here’s one passage from a Madonna and Child study illustrating how content-rich the curator’s comments are:

The observation of the drawing allows one to follow the entire compositional process. First of all, Michelangelo sketched out both protagonists in black chalk, with a highly spontaneous handling: the fast, parallel hatching is combined with a soft, loose outline, drawn with a tormented manner. Initially, the face of the Madonna appears faintly sketched to the left, intent on looking down, in profile, at the Child in her arms, to be modified and rotated up three-quarters to the right, while gazing into the distance with an absorbed expression. Perhaps lost in the premonition of future pains, the Virgin’s head is executed on a smaller dimensional scale than the rest of the imposing body and with much more finished results, thanks to a soft chiaroscuro obtained with a broad-tipped black chalk, which lends the face a veil of shaded melancholy. This initial phase of compositional analysis was followed by the pictorial deepening of part of the figure of the Infant Jesus, perfectly executed even in the colouring, thanks to the overlapping of multiple techniques, all typical of Michelangelo’s heritage. The artist outlined the profile, already characterised by numerous pentimenti, with a red chalk, which he used together with a very shaded black chalk also to model the body with its rosy complexion, and interpreted the precious chiaroscuro effects with highlights of white lead, applied with chalk for the parts in light, and retouches of brown ink wash, applied with a very fine-tipped brush, for the areas of greater darkness. At this point, Michelangelo had to abandon work on the sheet, leaving the drawing with a distinct difference in finish, intentional and related to his graphic interests.



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Ellen DeGeneres: I got kicked out of showbusiness

DeGeneres returns to the spotlight with a new stand-up show - two years after her talk show ended.

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Martin Freeman on why viewers can 'smell lies' in TV drama

The Responder star on how the police drama shows them as "human beings rather than cardboard cutouts".

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Watch: 'I'm an Aussie girl...standing here in Hollywood'

Nicole Kidman becomes the first Australian actress to win the AFI Life Achievement Award.

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Watch: 'I'm an Aussie girl...standing here in Hollywood'

Nicole Kidman becomes the first Australian actress to win the AFI Life Achievement Award.

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Boston museum returns Egyptian child sarcophagus to Sweden

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has returned an ancient Egyptian clay child sarcophagus to Uppsala University’s Museum Gustavianum more than 50 years after it was stolen under mysterious circumstances.

Made of alluvial clay, the sarcophagus dates to the 19th Dynasty (1295–1186 B.C.). It is 43 inches high and vividly painted. The child is depicted wearing a headdress of blue and yellow stripes tied with a headband of white, blue and red lotuses. Lotus petals cover the collar on his chest. The head and chest are on a cut-out section that can be removed to access the interior. Beneath the collar are more lotus flowers, wadjet eyes and the goddess Nut with outstretched wings flanked by Anubis seated jackals. The bottom part of the sarcophagus is covered with hieroglyphs identifying the deceased as a boy named Pa-nefer-neb.

The MFA Boston acquired it in 1985, and the ownership record seemed to be thorough and above-board, even at a time when museum’s paid zero attention to that sort of thing. It was sold by one Olaf Liden claiming to be an agent of Swedish artist Eric Ståhl (1918–1999). A letter ostensibly written by Ståhl described how he had personally discovered the sarcophagus in Amada, Egypt, in 1937, and the Egyptian government had later gifted it to him for his aid in the archaeological rescue operations before construction of the Aswan Dam. The coffin’s authenticity was attested to in writing by Swedish experts.

It was the MFA itself that realized this story was complete fiction, that Ståhl was never involved in any archaeological excavations in Egypt, that the letter and authentication documents were forged and the sarcophagus had been purloined from the Swedish museum, smuggled to Boston and fraudulently sold. The trigger was the 2008 publication of previously unseen photographs from the archive of the Petrie Museum. The sarcophagus was in one of the pictures: a shot of a 1920 archaeological excavation in Gurob, Egypt, by the British School of Archaeology under the direction of British archaeologist Flinders Petrie. A note with the photograph stated the coffin had been given to Uppsala University in 1922 as part of the partage system that was common at the time. All institutions involved in digs got a cut of the artifacts, basically, in exchange for their funding and fieldwork.

MFA curators initiated an investigation and contacted the Gustavianum to let them know about the discrepancy. Provenance researchers from both museums cooperated and shared information during the process. They found that the sarcophagus went missing from the museum’s stores in 1970 or earlier. It was not deaccessioned or traded. Both parties came to the same conclusion: the coffin had been taken from the Gustavianum illegally and should be returned.

“It is very gratifying that this return has now come to pass. The child’s sarcophagus is an important item in our collections and it means a lot to the museum and the University that it has now been returned to us. The sarcophagus is an excellent complement to our Egyptian collections and will now be available for research,” says Mikael Ahlund, Museum Director of Gustavianum, or Uppsala University Museum. “But the sarcophagus needs some work and it will be some time before it can be shown to the public in Gustavianum,” he adds.

You can see the petite coffin being unpacked upon its return to Sweden in this video. 



* This article was originally published here

Pet Shop Boys: 'We should call our next tour Farewell'

The pop group look back on 40 years of chart success, and discuss their 15th album, Nonetheless.

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Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and the album comeback

The two megastars have both ditched singles for their latest releases - will others follow their lead?

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“Excalibur” identified as 10th c. Islamic sword

A sword discovered in Valencia in 1994 has been identified as an early Islamic era weapon dating to the 10th century. It is the first sword from the Islamic period to be found in Valencia.

Founded by Roman consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus in 138 B.C. as a veterans colony, Valencia was conquered by invading Muslim forces in 714 A.D. The Islamic city, known as Balansiya in Arabic, prospered and by the 10th century was a regional hub of trade. The Moorish taifa kingdom of Valencia, established in 1010, was frequently troubled with dynastic conflict, assassination and for one brief stretch at the end of the 11th century, conquest by the Castilian knight and Spanish national hero El Cid.

The iron sword was found in Valencia’s old town north of the ancient Roman Forum in a house from the Islamic era. It had been stuck in the ground inside a grave and was discovered in an upright position, giving rise to its nickname “Excalibur.” It is 46 cm (18 inches) long with a blade that curves slightly towards the tip. The hilt is decorated with bronze plates and has small notches for ease of handling. There is no hand guard, however, which suggests it may have been a cavalry weapon from the caliphal era. The curved blade is more typical of Visigothic swords. These mixed characteristics are the reason why it has taken so long to determine its maker and period. It was the sediment sample recovered from the find site that finally allowed researchers to date it to the 10th century.

The sword, which has been restored, has been dated within the framework of the archeology scholarship organized annually by the Valencia City Council. In the 2023-2024 edition, the scholarship has been dedicated entirely to the analysis of metallic objects. The fact that the beneficiary of this scholarship is an archaeologist specialized in metals has favored the exact dating of the sword.

The Councilor for Cultural Action, Heritage and Cultural Resources, José Luis Moreno, has assured that “thanks to the archeology grant organized by the Valencia City Council, the archaeologist José Miguel Osuna is carrying out a detailed analysis study of metal objects ranging from the Roman era to the late medieval period and where a new and exceptional discovery has come to light, which we have called the Excalibur of Roc Chabàs due to its similarity to the legendary sword of King Arthur.” According to the councilor, “this sword has a unique design that gives it great archaeological and heritage value, so we have a new treasure in this Islamic Excalibur and a historical legacy of ancient Balansiya.”



* This article was originally published here

Indian Study Shows Hilly Areas Linked To High Risk Of Childhood Stunting

Children under 5 years of age in India, living at higher altitudes -- over 2,000 metres above sea level -- may be at about 40 percent higher risk of stunted growth, according to a study on Friday.  

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ITV host receiving care after becoming unwell live on air

Rageh Omaar, 56, was hosting the News at Ten when he appeared to struggle to read the bulletins.

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Home and Away star arrested after Australian manhunt

The actor was taken into custody on Thursday after failing to front court on assault charges.

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17th c. coin hoard found in farmhouse kitchen reno

Robert and Betty Fooks were already living a history nerd’s dream when they bought a 17th century Dorset farmhouse fixer upper in 2019. That escalated into full-on history nerd fantasyland when Robert took a pickaxe to the floor of their kitchen and discovered 1,029 gold and silver coins from the English Civil War (1642-1644).

South Poorton Farm in a small West Dorset hamlet was 400 years old when the Fooks’ bought it and in need of extensive renovation. They decided to remove the modern concrete floor to create more head space and ultimately dug down through almost two feet, passing through old flagstones and bare earth. Robert was putting in some sweat equity one October evening, digging up a bare earth area with his pickaxe when he encountered a glazed pottery bowl full of coins. The bowl was smashed, either by the pickaxe or earlier, but the coins were unscathed.

The discovery was reported to the local Finds Liaison Officer and the hoard was transferred to the British Museum for cleaning, documentation and valuation. The hoard contains gold coins, silver half crowns, shillings and sixpences of James I and Charles I, and silver shillings and sixpences of Elizabeth I, Phillip and Mary. They were deposited in a single event between 1642 and 1644, the early years of the First English Civil War.

Dorset, its arsenals and its ports were taken by Parliament when war broke out in August 1642, but Royalist troops regained a lot of that ground in 1643. Parliament still controlled the ports. While no major battles took place in the county, there was plenty of troop movement on both sides, lots of requisitioning of supplies, sieges, clashes, towns getting burned, just general wartorn misery all around. The kind of turbulence that leads people to put their life savings in a pot and bury it under the floor.

The hoard is a older than 300 years, contains precious metal and is a grouping of multiple coins, it fits the definition of official Treasure. Typically this type of find would end up property of the Crown and a local museum would be given the opportunity to acquire it for the price of the assessed valuation. No museum must have wanted it or been able to raise the cash, because the hoard was returned to the finders and the couple put the hoard up for auction at Duke’s Auctioneers in Dorchester. The total pre-sale estimate for was £35,000. The auction took place on April 23rd, and all together, the coins sold for £60,740. A 1636 Charles I Gold Unite Crown was the biggest seller going for £5,000. A 1627 Charles I Gold Unite took second place with £3,800. The oldest coins, a lot of three Philip and Mary silver shillings from around 1554-1558, sold for £240.



* This article was originally published here

'Seagull Boy' teaches Olly Alexander how to do impression

Nine-year-old Cooper went viral after winning a European championship with his uncanny impression of a seagull.

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Fish sauce, new amphora type identified on Roman wreck

The first in-depth analysis of the cargo of the 4th century Roman shipwreck found off the coast of Mallorca in 2019 has been published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. Researchers took a multipronged approach to the analysis, using petrographic analysis to determine the origin of the amphorae, residue analysis to determine their contents and wood and plant analysis on the ship’s hold. They were able to determine that the boat likely departed from Cartagena in southeastern Spain carrying a cargo of fish sauce, olive oil and wine in four different types of amphora, including one that hasn’t been found anywhere else before. It has been named a Ses Fontanelles I amphora after the find site.

Because the ship is exceptionally well-preserved, many painted inscriptions (tituli picti, on the exterior of the amphorae have survived. They identify the manufacturers, Ausonius et Alunni, and the contents: Liq Fos, short for liquamen flos (flowers of liquamen). At the time this ship was transporting goods, liquamen was a fish sauce distinct from garum, the fermented fish condiment that was ubiquitous in Roman repasts. (From the 5th century the two would become synonymous.)

Fish sauces were produced in large-scale fish processing centers all long the Mediterranean basin. Spain dominated the trade in the western empire in the 1st and 2nd centuries. Spanish garum amphorae have been found from northern Africa to Hadrian’s Wall. We know from the large number of amphorae found in the homes and commercial establishments of Pompeii that garum was the most popular with about a quarter of the amphorae containing garum. Liquamen was the second most popular.

The analysis of the ichthyofauna has contributed to understand that this fish sauce was basically prepared with small engraulidae particularly anchovies but with presence of sardine. It is possible that also a, so far, invisible cargo occupied part of the space in the galley (Munar Llabrés et al. 2022). These products were carefully stowed in the hold of the merchant ship using vine shoots and herbaceous plants as dunnage for protection.



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BBC Proms to feature disco night and Florence + The Machine

Full details of the 2024 season have been announced, with one of the most diverse line-ups in years.

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The Italian film which beat Barbie at the box office

Director Paola Cortellesi on the cry for change in Italy's chart-topping There's Still Tomorrow.

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The Italian film which beat Barbie at the box office

Director Paola Cortellesi on the cry for change in Italy's chart-topping There's Still Tomorrow.

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‘Bluestockings’ by Susannah Gibson review

‘Bluestockings’ by Susannah Gibson review JamesHoare

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Aboriginal spears repatriated after 250 years

The four spears were taken by Captain Cook's crew during their first contact with Australia in 1770.

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Olly Alexander to bring Eurovision magic to EastEnders

This year's UK Eurovision entrant will make a surprise visit to Walford next month.

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Olly Alexander to bring Eurovision magic to EastEnders

This year's UK Eurovision entrant will make a surprise visit to Walford next month.

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Britons Caught in the French Revolution

Britons Caught in the French Revolution JamesHoare

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Could House of the Dragon star change the face of gaming?

Abubakar Salim set up his own studio to tell a personal tale of grief inspired by his Kenyan heritage.

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PEN America awards called off after Gaza boycott

The prominent literary and free expression group cancelled its awards after a backlash from nominees.

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PEN America awards called off after Gaza boycott

The prominent literary and free expression group cancelled its awards after a backlash from nominees.

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Gogglebox star died after fall through skylight

A coroner is told George Gilbey died from traumatic injuries after the incident while working on a roof.

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Gogglebox star died after fall through skylight

A coroner is told George Gilbey died from traumatic injuries after the incident while working on a roof.

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4,200-year-old “zombie grave” found in Saxony-Anhalt

Archaeologists have found a Neolithic “revenant grave” near Oppin in Saxony-Anhalt. The deceased was pinned under a large stone to prevent him rising from the grave to wreak havoc with the living. Precise dating has yet to be done, but evidence suggests it is a Bell Beaker culture grave from around 4,200 years ago. If the preliminary dating proves accurate, this is the first deviant burial from the period discovered in central Germany.

Excavations in advance of power line expansion work uncovered the grave of an adult male between 40 and 60 years old. There were no grave goods interred with him. He was placed on his left side with his legs bent and a large stone across his lower legs. The stone is more than three feet long, a foot-and-a-half wide, four inches high and weighs 110 pounds. The heavy weight and broad coverage was intended to prevent the deceased from rising from his grave.

“We know that even in the Stone Age people were afraid of unpleasant revenants. People wanted to prevent that with magic,” said project manager and archaeologist Susanne Friederich. “There are graves where the corpse even lies on its stomach. Back then, people believed that dead people sometimes tried to free themselves from their graves. If it lies on its stomach, it burrows deeper and deeper instead of rising to the surface “There are also dead bodies lying on their stomachs who were also pierced with a lance, so they were practically fixed in the ground,” explained Friederich.

Friederich and her team unearthed another apparent revenant burial in the Oppin area last November, albeit a much more recent one, dating to the 2nd or 3rd century. Three heavy stones had been placed on the deceased’s legs. A bronze fibula was found in the grave, so he was no pauper. The skeletal remains of a woman were found nearby without anti-revenant measures. There’s also the outline of a house near the two burials, so it seems likely the two people may have resided there.

The skeletal remains have been recovered from the Neolithic grave and are being transferred to a laboratory in Halle for further study. Excavations along the expansion route of the power line are ongoing and they have a lot of ground to cover, more than 90 miles through Saxony-Anhalt alone (335 miles in total). The excavations are planned to continue through 2025. 



* This article was originally published here

Heatwave Alert: 4 Tips To Prevent Heat Exhaustion Amidst Soaring Summer Temperatures

Drinking plenty of water is crucial during a heatwave as it helps to keep the body hydrated and cool. Here is a short guide on how to prevent heat exhaustion as the temperatures soar high.

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Roman colonnaded street found in Antalya

A long stretch of a Roman colonnaded street has been discovered in the resort town of Antalya, southern Turkey. So far a section of wall 100 meters (328 feet) long has been uncovered, but archaeologists expect to find much more, up to 800 meters (half a mile) of the colonnaded wall.

The massive wall was unearthed during an excavation of around the Hıdırlık Tower, a landmark of the city that was built in the 2nd century A.D. and is the one of the oldest surviving monuments in the city. Located at the intersection of the city walls and the sea wall, the original square base may have been built as early as the Hellenistic period (323 – 32 B.C.). It took its final form in the Roman era, (1st or 2nd century A.D.) when the circular second story was built, giving it the shape and height it has now.

Its original purpose is uncertain, but the currently scholarly consensus is that it was a mausoleum built for the family of Marcus Calpurnius Rufus, an important senatorial and consular family in the 1st century. The Byzantines converted it into a defensive tower, integrating it into the city walls. In subsequent eras it was also used as a lighthouse.

Today it is a beloved symbol of the city. Starting in 2020, the municipality embarked on a project of conservation and excavation, ensuring the long-term stability of the tower and archaeologically exploring the immediately surrounding area. So far, the remains of baths, mosaic floors and a Cretan ice factory have been unearthed. The city plans to build wooden walkways and an observation deck over the underground remains that will be Turkey’s largest.

The structural work on the tower is almost complete, and the observation deck is scheduled to open this summer. Meanwhile, the excavation is ongoing and archaeologists hope to uncover the full length of the surviving colonnaded wall.



* This article was originally published here

Glow Up's judging duo on how they made it in make-up

Glow Up’s judges talk about working with Kate Moss, the shocking 80s Australian club scene and making it in the make-up industry.

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Apology as largest UK arena axes test gig tickets

Bosses say they had to cancel some tickets for the Rick Astley gig to test the venue "effectively".

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Apology as largest UK arena axes test gig tickets

Bosses say they had to cancel some tickets for the Rick Astley gig to test the venue "effectively".

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Medieval weapon chest found on Gribshunden

The exploration of the wreck of the 15th century Danish royal warship Gribshunden has uncovered a unique late medieval weapons chest. It is a zeuglade, an ammunition storage and production toolbox that we know from illustrations around that time often accompanied armies on battlefields.

Gribshunden sank in the Blekinge archipelago after a fire broke out when it was anchored off the Baltic coast of southern Sweden in 1495. The royal flagship was carrying King Hans of Denmark and Norway, but he and his retinue had already disembarked on their way to meet with the regent of Sweden when the ship caught fire. About 100 German mercenaries were still on board and went down with the ship. The zeuglade was likely theirs.

The wreck was discovered in 1971 by scuba divers, but archaeologists didn’t begin to explore the site until 30 years later. The cold Baltic waters had preserved the organic remains of the ship and its cargo in good condition. In 2002, it was identified as the Gribshunden by its unusually large size, carvel construction and heavy armaments. Dendrochronological analysis and radiocarbon dating of the timbers confirmed the identification. The ship made international news in 2015 when the dramatic figurehead was raised from the seabed.

Excavations have been ongoing for more than two decades. The weapon chest was first spotted by archaeologists exploring the wreck in 2019. They returned to the spot in 2023 to document it thoroughly with new high-resolution photos and create a 3D photogrammetry model of the chest. It is approximately 2.3 feet long by one feet wide and is located on the port side of the bow. There is a corrosion crust on the surface and the contents are also heavily corroded, but archaeologists were able to distinguish sharp flint pieces from canister shot ammunition, two elongated pieces of lead plate with holes on the side and three stone molds to manufacture lead bullets of different calibers for handheld firearms and arquebuses. Small cylindrical objects in the chest are believed to be the remnants of crucibles, powder chambers and/or cartridges.

Here’s an illustration of a zeuglade in action on the battlefield from Diebold Schilling’s Amtliche Berner Chronik, Vol. 1, the three-volume official chronicle of Bern completed in 1483. The chest contains paper cartridges and balls to load the arquebuses the infantrymen are shooting.


This illustration from a ca. 1500 combat and warfare manual by German knight Ludwig VI von Eyb shows different types of arquebuses and their corresponding ammunition in a zeuglade.

The work to reconstruct the Gripen/Griphund has been going on since 2013. Right now the efforts are focused on the superstructure. In his doctoral thesis, Rolf Warming is also working on clarifying the ship’s combat capabilities and the role of the soldiers on board.

“The ship is an important piece of the puzzle in the ‘military revolution at sea’ in early modern times where the primary tactic shifted from close combat to the difficult naval artillery. The ship will therefore also be compared with other important warships to understand the development, for example Mars (1564) and Vasa (1628),” says Rolf Warming.



* This article was originally published here

Taylor Swift is vulnerable but vicious on new album

The star's 11th album is much more than a break-up record, and may even mark the end of an era.

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Taylor Swift is vulnerable but vicious on new album

The star's 11th album is much more than a break-up record, and may even mark the end of an era.

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17th c. garden maze in Italy opens to visitors

One of the oldest garden mazes in Europe is reopening to the public after years of closure this weekend. The boxwood hedge maze at the Bufalini Castle in San Giustino, about 30 miles from Perugia in central Italy’s Umbria region, has been continuously maintained since the 17th century.

The original medieval fortress built by the Ghibelline Dotti family was destroyed in the late 15th century by order of the Republic of Florence. In 1487, it was transferred to Niccolò Bufalini who employed military architects to transform it into a square fortress with four towers in the corners surrounded by a wide moat. In the 1530s the family began turning the imposing fortress into an elegant country villa in High Renaissance style. The interior was modified to create large, airy rooms arranged around a central courtyard with columned porticos. Loggias were added to the façade and a new centered monumental entrance. The formal gardens with fruit trees, rare flowers, medicinal herbs, vegetable garden, roses and tall trees to draw birds, fountains and the boxwood hedge labyrinth were built up in stages during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, its park was organized into seven main areas enclosed by perimeter paths set at the edge of the moat and boundary wall. One of these was occupied precisely by the labyrinth created for the leisure of the lords and formed by tall boxwood hedges. The layout, measuring approximately 670 square meters, is trapezoidal in shape with three distinct centers, with a single access, on either side of which two cypress trees, still living, were planted on November 4, 1694, and are among the oldest trees in the garden. In the castle’s archives are some drawings relating to its design and construction, in particular a plan dated 1706, the Pianta del palazzo e giardino della villa di S. Giustino dei sign.ri March.si Bufalini, from which it is possible to see how its layout has remained unchanged over the centuries. This suggests that at least part of the boxwood plants are those planted in 1692, making the labyrinth at Castello Bufalini one of the oldest in Europe.

“The labyrinth is not only an exceptional botanical work, but an esoteric idea that is transformed into an experience,” says Costantino D’Orazio, director of the National Museums of Perugia-Regional Directorate Museums Umbria “That’s why the reopening of the labyrinth at Bufalini Castle enriches the charm of a place that will hold many surprises for the public in the coming years.”

“The opening to the public of one of the most interesting hedge labyrinths on the Italian scene,” says Veruska Picchiarelli, Director of Castello Bufalini “It is part of a process of recovery and re-evaluation of other areas, both internal and external, of the entire complex, which will lead starting in the coming months to double and totally upgrade the tour route.”

The castle was acquired by the Italian state in 1989. It is a rare example of a historic stately home in Italy that is largely intact, not just architecturally but in its artworks and furnishings as well. The collection of paintings, furniture, tapestries, majolica vases, dinner services, crystal and ancient busts assembled by the Bufalini family from the 16th through the 19th century are still in place, giving visitors a unique view of the lifestyle of an Italian noble family as fashions and tastes evolved.



* This article was originally published here

Kate Garraway gets council response over 'unsettling post'

She said the issue of "bills, demands, threatens of bailiffs" had been going on for years.

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BBC editor tried to uncover whistleblower - tribunal

Ian Stringer says that his protected disclosure led to retribution, which cost him his job.

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Neolithic women sacrificed Mafia-style

A new study of the skeletal remains of two women discovered at the Middle Neolithic (4250-3600 B.C.) site of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux in southern France has revealed they were ritually murdered by an agonizing method still utilized today by the Mafia: by tying their necks to their bent legs until they inevitably strangled themselves. The Italian mob calls this torturous execution method “incaprettamento” (literally “ingoatment” because they’re strung up like goats on a spit), but the Neolithic version one-ups even the cruelty of organized crime by burying the victims alive.

Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux in the central Rhône Valley was a gathering site in the Middle Neolithic, not a residential settlement. Excavations have unearthed numerous silos and pits containing broken grindstones, sacrificed dogs, ceramics and pebble fills. There are also human remains in some of the pits, notably in two pits covered by a wooden structure aligned with the summer and winter solstices.

One of those pits, pit 69, is shaped like a storage silo, but it has no traces of seeds or of having been burned (a sanitizing practice for actual storage silos). It contained the skeletons of three women, one in the center of the pit positioned on her left side with a vase near her head, the other two underneath an overhang. The second was on her back with her legs bent and a heavy piece of grindstone placed on her skull. The third was on her stomach with her neck on the chest of the second woman. Her knees are bent too and she had two pieces of grindstone on her back.

Looking into the pit from above at the time of the burial, only the first woman would have been visible. The other two women were obscured by the overhang. They were also crammed into the space, so much so that the grindstone pieces must have been forcefully inserted when the bodies were put in position.

If they were still alive, in conjunction with their positioning beneath the pit’s overhang, then they could no longer move, and breathing became very difficult. Furthermore, since the initial descriptions, numerous forensic studies have been conducted on individuals in similar positions with pressure applied to them, resulting in their deaths. In such a position, death occurs relatively quickly, even if the victims were not drugged or beaten. The prone position induces inadequate ventilation and a decrease in the blood volume pumped by the heart, which can lead to pulseless electrical activity arrest and/or cardiac arrest by asystole. This diagnosis, formerly known as positional asphyxia, could now be better defined as “prone restraint cardiac arrest.” Some individuals are more sensitive than others, but cervical compression is an aggravating factor, as is obstruction of the nose and mouth.

The intriguing position of the lower limbs of woman 3 is also noteworthy. Her legs collapsed to the side as the body decomposed, and from their placement on the corpse, it appears that the knees would have been bent at slightly over 90° with the legs held more or less vertically. Given the woman’s prone position, this suggests a potential case of homicidal ligature strangulation. In this scenario, the woman would have been on her abdomen with a ligature attached to her ankles and neck. The fact that the woman was obstructed by grindstones and the overhang of the storage pit, coupled with the possibility of a tie connecting her ankles to her neck, supports the hypothesis of a deposit while she was still alive. Otherwise, the physical constraints could have been less severe, especially considering that the grindstones were not visible from the outside.

There is evidence of incaprettamento having been used as a method of human sacrifice from other Neolithic sites in Europe. The research team documents the practice in rock art scenes and in burials from 16 graves at 14 archaeological sites stretching from the Czech Republic to Spain and ranging in date from around 5400 B.C. to 3500 B.C.



* This article was originally published here

Lungs Of Young Adults More Susceptible To Covid-19 Causing SARS-CoV-2 Virus, Claims Study

The study, which was posted on a preprint website and has not yet undergone peer review, showed that the lungs of older individuals are less susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 and flu virus replication compared to the young.

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'I miss her hugs': Warwick Davis's tribute to wife

The Star Wars actor describes his wife Samantha as his "favourite human" after she dies aged 53.

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The man who flew over LA using balloons and a garden chair

Larry Walters' flight, using a garden chair and helium balloons, is celebrated in a stage musical.

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The man who flew over LA using balloons and a garden chair

Larry Walters' flight, using a garden chair and helium balloons, is celebrated in a stage musical.

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Lincoln Imp drain found under toilet trap door

As if the fact that Tracy and Rory Vorster found a hidden trap door on a ledge above their toilet in their home in Lincoln weren’t cool enough, when they opened it, they found a slab of stone carved with a grotesque face bearing a striking resemblance to local icon, the Lincoln Imp. A hole in the open mouth suggested it had been a drain of some sort, or perhaps a urinal. When it was examined by an expert at the Lincoln Civic Trust, the initial impression was confirmed: it was a drain from the middle or late 14th century.

[The couple] said the discovery is an example of why Lincoln is “amazing”, adding they are “proud” of their house’s history.

Mrs Vorster said: “You look at the outside of the house and that is historical enough but to now find something inside is amazing.”

Mr Vorster added: “The whole of the house has kind of a hollow walling, so we immediately thought there could be more. In fact, we’re almost certain now.

“The previous occupant had been here for over 20 years, so surely they knew. But we had absolutely no clue it was there.”

The Lincoln Imp is a carved stone grotesque with cow ears, cow horns, taloned hands, a hirsute body with crossed legs perched atop a pillar overlooking the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral. Probably carved in the 13th century, the imp soon became the popular favorite of the cathedral’s grotesques. Legends rose around the charismatic little devil. In one account, he and an imp friend were sent by Satan to wreak havoc in northern England. They were breaking furniture, smashing stained glass and bullying the Bishop in Lincoln Cathedral when an angel rose from a hymn book and turned the most defiant, rowdiest imp to stone.

Today the Lincoln Imp is the mascot of the city. The city soccer team is nicknamed “The Imps” and feature the Imp on their logo. Copies of the Imp are found all over the city, and it even reached Oxford University where a reproduction of the Imp was mounted to the wall of the Front Quad of Lincoln College.

The Vorsters’ house is on Vicar’s Court, a building founded by the college of priests in the 13th century in the Minster Yard just south of the cathedral. Part of it was demolished in the English Civil War, but among the remains today are a select group of rental homes owned by Lincoln Cathedral. A survey of the historic homes in Lincoln published in 1987 records “grotesque mask which forms the drain” in a Vicar’s Court house.



* This article was originally published here

Sarah Snook's chicken and nine other Olivier moments

From Nicole Scherzinger's Sunday roast love to David Tennant's jacket causing a stir, these are the ten highlights.

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Second Greek-Illyrian helmet found in Croatia

A 2,500-year-old Greek-Illyrian helmet has been discovered in the village of Zakotorac on Croatia’s Pelješac peninsula. It was unearthed by archaeologists from the Dubrovnik Museums at the Gomile cave tomb site where rich graves from the second half of the 1st millennium B.C. have been discovered since the excavation project began in 2020.

This is the second Greco-Illyrian helmet found in the Gomile excavations. The previous example was found in a grave along with fragments of iron weapons and thus likely belonged to a member of the warrior elite who was buried there. The recently-discovered helmet was found in a dry stone-walled addition to a grave, so archaeologists believe it may have been a votive deposit.

The helmets are of different types and dates. The one discovered in 2020 is an open-faced helmet with a rectangular cut-out for the face edged with a decorative border, a variant in active use in Greece and Illyria in the 4th century B.C. The most recent helmet is owner, dating to the 6th century B.C. Few examples of the 4th century B.C. type have survived, with only about 40 known in Europe, and the 6th century B.C. helmets are even more rare. Finding two different Greek-Illyrian helmets at one site is unprecedented.

What is very interesting is that two different types appear here in the same place, which actually speaks of a continuity of power of the respective community. These helmets have always been a symbol of some kind of status and power, said Dr. sc. Hrvoje Potrebica , from the Department of Archeology of the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb.

The highly valuable and rare helmets keep company with other exceptional grave goods, including 15 bronze and silver fibulae, 12 needles, spiral bronze jewelry, bronze tweezers, hundreds of glass and amber beads, a bronze diadem and more than three dozen vessels of Greek origin, most of them made in Attic and Italic workshops. These were the most highly prized pieces of pottery of the time. If acquired via trade, the cost would have been prohibitive. It’s also possible they were acquired by piracy, a pursuit the Illyrian warriors on the Adriatic coast were famous for.



* This article was originally published here

Hannah Waddingham calls out demanding paparazzi

The Olivier Awards host reacted after a snapper apparently asked her to "show your leg".

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Fairness Creams Linked To Rise In Kidney Issues, Says Study

According to a new study, the use of skin fairness creams is driving a surge in kidney problems in India.  

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Garforth Roman lead coffin to go on display

The Roman lead coffin discovered in Garforth, near Leeds, in 2022 will go on display for the first time in an exhibition at the Leeds City Museum next month.

The coffin was unearthed in an excavation of a previously unknown cemetery containing burials of more than 60 men, women and children from the late Roman and early Saxon periods. The lead coffin was used as the inner lining of a larger wood coffin which has decayed leaving only the metal interior in place. Lead coffins were expensive and rare, only affordable by the elite of Romano- British society. Pieces of jewelry — a bracelet, glass bead necklace and ring — were found inside the coffin, confirming the aristocratic status of the deceased.

When it was first discovered, the skeletal remains of an adult woman between 25 and 35 years of age were found inside the coffin. Later analysis of the contents of the lead coffin found the partial remains of a young child buried at the same time as the woman.

The coffin and its lid are currently being conserved and stabilised for display at Leeds City Museum, as part of the new exhibition Living with Death.

Kat Baxter, Leeds Museums and Galleries’ curator of archaeology, said: “This is a truly unique and remarkable find which has potentially huge implications for our understanding of the history of early Leeds and those who made their home here.”

She added: “The discovery of the remains of a second individual within the coffin is fascinating, particularly as they belonged to a child.

“It poses some interesting questions about how people more than 1,600 years ago treated their dead.”

Ms Baxter explained the Roman lead coffin was the only one of its kind ever discovered in West Yorkshire.

“We’re delighted to be able to display the coffin so quickly after excavation, and we’re looking forward to sharing this amazing piece of history with our visitors,” she said.



* This article was originally published here

Sir Ian McKellen on taking role he always said no to

The actor on taking on the role of Falstaff, the "ultimate gangster", in his latest West End play.

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Sir Ian McKellen on taking role he always said no to

The actor on taking on the role of Falstaff, the "ultimate gangster", in his latest West End play.

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British theatre gears up for big night at Oliviers

Sunset Boulevard, Stranger Things and Dear England are among the Olivier Award-nominated productions.

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Eye Health: 8 Ways For Managing Dry Eyes Syndrome, Check Tips For Relief And Comfort

Dry eyes can be a persistent problem for many individuals, causing discomfort and sometimes even affecting daily activities. Its syndrome occurs when the eyes do not produce enough tears or evaporate too quickly, and the eyes aren’t lubricated adequately.  

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170 silver bracteates found in medieval grave

Archaeologists have discovered a hoard of silver bracteates from the 12th century in a grave at the Brahekyrkan church in Visingsö, southern Sweden. It is rare to find extensive grave goods in Christian graves, and large numbers of coins have been found in only a handful of burials from the period. What makes this find unique is that some of these coins are completely unknown on the archaeological record.

The county museum archaeologists were overseeing the installation of the church’s new geothermal heating system in mid-March of this year when a skeleton was discovered in a shaft where wiring was to be laid. Three coins were found underneath the skeletal remains after they were removed, and then more appeared close to the left foot of the individual. Ultimately a total of about 170 silver bracteates (minted on one side only) dating to between 1150 and 1180 were unearthed from the grave. There were also a small number of Gotland coins (minted on both sides). The precise number is not yet known because some of the bracteates and coins are stuck together and they are so thin it’s hard to tell how many of them are in these little stacks.

Examination of the bones suggest the deceased was an adult man between 20 and 25 years of age. The grave was outside the medieval church wall, about 100 feet north of it, so at first archaeologists thought the deceased might be someone who had not been allowed to be buried in the consecrated grounds within the church walls, for example someone who died by suicide, unbaptized or unshriven.

However, after the recovery of the skeleton and the coins, archaeologists went on to find another 24 graves in that same shaft. All of them were laid to rest in the same orientation, aligned with each other and buried at the same depth. This was not a casual buried of one or two people outside the consecrated boundaries. This was an organized burial ground, and likely had markers above ground. None of the other burials had grave goods of any kind, let alone hundreds of silver coins.

In addition to the burials, the archaeologists uncovered more than 20 ancient hearths. Hearths have been found in the area before. A previous survey in 2005 uncovered three hearths dating to the Roman Iron Age (50-400 A.D.). The newly-discovered hearths haven’t been dated yet, but are likely from the same period.

The skeletal remains have not all been removed, only the ones that would run the risk of being interfered with during the laying of the wires. They will be examined and then respectfully reinterred. The silver bracteates/coins will be treated by conservators. They will be cleaned, and if it’s possible to do without damage, the groups that are stuck together will be separated.



* This article was originally published here