78 results found.
... is the drawings, though, that really capture the reader. They are superb, almost overwhelming. Rude Stone Monuments in all Countries: Their Age and Uses View Cart Buy online via PayPal with MC/Visa/Amex J. Fergusson, 1872, 578 pp., $26.95p Fergusson's famous compilation of worldwide megalithic monuments is a fit complement to our photocopied edition of Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, from 1848. Fergusson has filled his book with 233 line drawings of artifacts from the megalithic period. The emphasis is on the massive monuments, but you'll also see some sketches of pottery and inscribed stones. Naturally, there are long chapters on the British Isles, Ireland, and Europe; but the author also demonstrates how the megalithic culture extended into North Africa, the Middle East, and India. It is a pleasure to page through this old classic and read how our parents' parents interpreted these edifices. Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York View Cart Buy online via PayPal with MC/Visa/Amex E.G . Squier. 1849, 193 pp., $19.95p With the help of 72 figures and 14 large plates, Squier details the abundant aboriginal works found in New York and elsewhere. Included are chapters on mounds and other earthworks as well as implements and ornaments. The long appendix leaves New York and delves into the fortifications of the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians, the aboriginal use of copper, and some ancient works found in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee View Cart Buy online via PayPal ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: MAR-APR 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects 100-Mile-Long Wall in Africa A 100-mile-long wall? Well, sort of! Sungbo's Eredo, as it is called, is really an earthen embankment with an accompanying ditch. Whatever you call it, it does enclose an area 25 miles north-tosouth and 22 miles east-to-west. That's a lot of earth-moving, for at some spots the "wall" measures 70 feet from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the embankment. Today, this impressive structure is mostly concealed by the Nigerian jungle. A thousand years ago it enclosed a flourishing African kingdom. Sungbo's Eredo is hardly a military structure. Blow could a 100-mile-long embankment be defended with a reason-able number of warriors? Instead, it might have been a boundary marker or perhaps a "spiritual barrier." In fact, shrines are located along the wall where locals still leave offerings to protect themselves from outsiders. (Onishi, Norimitsu; "A Wall, a Moat, Behold! A Lost Yoruba Kingdom," New York Times International, September 26, 1999. Cr. R. Swanson) Comment. An interesting parallel to Sungbo''s Eredo is seen in Offa's Dyke, the largest ancient earthwork in Dritain. It is also an embankment-plus-ditch. Offa, the king of Saxon Mercia, had ...
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... a 29,000-year-old Neanderthal skeleton found in the northern Caucasus differs by 3.48% from the mtDNA of a 40,000-year-old Neanderthal skeleton from (fittingly) Germany's Neander Valley. Furthermore, both mtDNA samples differ from that of modern humans by a substantial 7%. These two innocent-appearing, widely publicized numbers have far-reaching implications: Modern humans and Neanderthals are only very distantly related, and they certainly never interbred, as suggested in many recent, popular articles; and Since neither Neanderthal mtDNA sample is closer to that of modern Europeans than it is any other modern human population, the so-called "multiregional" theory of human evolution and dispersion is unlikely to be correct. Thus, the out-of-Africa theory is favored;. These data and their implications stimulate several observations and comments; only one of which is mentioned in the references given below. F.H . Smith, an anthropologist from Northern Illinois University and a supporter of the multiregional theory, opines that 30,000-40,000 years ago the mtDNA of the early humans, who were mixing it up with the Neanderthals, was certainly very different from what it is today. Since mtDNA mutates rapidly, way back then human mtDNA might have been much more like that of the Neanderthals. (Ovchinnikov, Igor V., et al; "Molecular Analysis of Neanderthal DNA from the Northern Caucasus," Nature, 404:490, 2000. Bower, B.; "Salvaged DNA adds to Neandertals' Mystique ...
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... about long chains of impact structures. Those eight craters in a row. Geologists are questioning whether the eight structures stretching from Kentucky to Kansas (mentioned in SF#105) are all impactcaused. In a letter to Astronomy. A. Goldstein asserts that only three are impact craters; the other five are cryptoexplosion structures; that is, due to internal activity of some sort. However, Goldstein adds that there are actually three additional structures on this long line in Kentucky. (Goldstein, Alan; "Multiple Strike Stricken," Astronomy, 24:20, July 1996) Comment. Even if eight of the eleven structures on the line are cryptoexplosive in origin, one has to wonder why these are all lined up. A long line of weakness in the crust? Meanwhile, in Africa. 1994 radar images from the Space Shuttle have revealed a chain of three suspicious circular structures in the Sahara of northern Chad. Largely buried in sand, each is about 12 kilometers in diameter. Only one of these structures has been studied at ground level; and it is of impact origin, as confirmed by upturned strata and grains of shocked quartz. The other two could be volcanic say the skeptics. It will take an expedition to Chad to clarify things. (Kerr, Richard A.; "Impact Craters All in a Row?" Science, 272:33, 1996) A final comment -- at last! All impactcrater chains are relevant to the claim of H.R . Shaw that even the earth's largest impact structures are found in swathes (chains ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 133: JAN-FEB 2001 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Ubiquitous Bird-and-fish Motif Pre-Columbiana, a new journal, promote the popular but "out-on-the-fringe" theory that all our planet's oceans were crossed repeatedly before Columbus (an the Vikings, too). One type of evidence adduced to prove such Precolumbian cultural diffusion is the widespread appearance of motifs that are so specific and unusual that one is forced to admit that independent invention seems very unlikely. In the latest issue of Pre-Columbiana, G. Farley has collected examples of the singular "bird-and-fish" motif from Asia, Africa, both Americas, and the Middle East. As you can see from the illustrations, the similarities are striking, and the bird-fish "contact" highly specific. Bird-and-fish motifs. Clockwise from upper left: Mimbres culture, New Mexico; ancient Egyptian hieroglyph; Chimu culture, Peru; ancient China. (Farley, Gloria; "World-Wide Occurrence of a Bird-and-Fish Motif," Pre-Columbiana, 1:187, 1999.) Comment. Yes, we do know that the birds involved are all fish-eaters, but the "kisses" seem more symbolic than pre-consumption. Also, the fish portrayed are often too big to swallow. From Science Frontiers #133, JAN-FEB 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of ...
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... Ship-swallowers It's happened hundreds of times, and thousands of sailors have lost their lives. The killers are giant, usually solitary, waves that seem to come out of nowhere. These monster walls of water appear in seas that are rough but not fearfully so. Suddenly. a ship will find itself in a deep trough. Then conies a wall of water. 50-100 feet high. (34 meters is the biggest reliable measurement.) The vessel is flooded, perhaps its back is broken. It sinks like a rock without even sending a distress signal. Another ship has been devoured by a rogue wave. Giant solitary waves are usually preceded by deep troughs. as seen in this sketch of a vessel in the notorious A gulhas Current off the coast of South Africa. (From: Earthquakes. Tides....) Just between 1969 and 1994. 60 supercarriers were lost due to sudden flooding. Of this number, 22 were apparently swallowed by rogue waves. The rogue waves appear unexpectedly. They dwarf all surrounding waves. For a long time, the rogues were said to be just chance additions of two smaller waves. But they are too big and occur too frequently to be statistical flukes. In addition, statiticians have trouble in accounting for the fabled and feared "three sisters" -- three massive waves in succession. Consequently, scientists have retreated to a now-familiar refuge: nonlinear effects. They show mathematically how small perturbations in a physical system can lead to huge consequences -- on paper at least.. (Lawton ...
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... Peninsula's ice shelves may have come and gone at least once since the end of the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago, suggests that people may not be fully to blame for the disappearance now underway. Supporting foregoing evidence are studies of Antarctic lake sediments and ancient abandoned penguin rookeries. Everything points to a warmer, more humid Antarctica between 2,500 and 4,000 years ago. (Perkins, S.; "Antarctic Sediments Muddy Climate Debate," Science News, 160: 150, 2001.) Comment. The warmer Antarctic just portrayed might explain those old maps, such as that of Piri Re'is, that seem to depict a relatively ice-free Antartica. The more daring of us might postulate sea commerce between South America, southern Africa, and Australasia during those halcyon days! From Science Frontiers #138, NOV-DEC 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
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... are being very smart. Penguins, like most animals, are counter-shaded, dark on the back, light below. When the penguins are swimming, avian predators have difficulty seeing them against the dark sea. Marine predators below tend to lose their white bellies when seen against the bright sky. But when the penguins waddle across the white snow, the avian predators can spot them easily. Unless, of course, the penguins are clever enough to flop over on their backs exposing only their white tummies. Since they perceive aircraft as threats, they topple backwards intentionally. Pretty smart of them! (Browyer, Adrian; "White Out," New Scientist, p. 54, December 16, 2000.) Comment. More seriously, an outstanding exception to the countershading rule is Africa's ratel or honey-badger. It is white on top, dark on its belly. But like its cousin, North America's wolverine, the ratel is so strong and fierce that even lions avoid it. It doesn't need camouflage. From Science Frontiers #134, MAR-APR 2001 . 2001 William R. Corliss Other Sites of Interest SIS . Catastrophism, archaeoastronomy, ancient history, mythology and astronomy. Lobster . The journal of intelligence and political conspiracy (CIA, FBI, JFK, MI5, NSA, etc) Homeworking.com . Free resource for people thinking about working at home. ABC dating and personals . For people looking for relationships. Place your ad free. ...
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... where they can be consumed or used for fish bait. Animals usually grunt for worms by stomping on the ground after a rain. Just why the worms below rush to expose themselves upon detecting these seismic signals is known only to them. Perhaps they think more rain is falling or that a mole is burrowing toward them. All we know is that grunting works. In the article under review, English seagulls are reported doing a flat-footed version of an Irish jig to entice their dinner to the surface. Oystercatchers, on the other hand, prefer a reel-like dance in which they cavort in circles and straight lines. Somehow, the grunting technique has been communicated to birds everywhere. Red-billed gulls in New Zealand grunt for worms, so do the olive thrushes of South Africa. (Smith, Richard Hoseason, et al; "Rain Dance," New Scientist, p. 102, May 12, 2001.) Comment. It is mildly anomalous that this unlikely hunting technique is found in so many places and employed by so many species. Our own research adds that strange New Caledonian bird, the kagu, to the list of worm-grunters. How did the kagu on an isolated Pacific island learn the technique? And in the States, another very strange bird, the woodcock, can sometimes be seen engaged in a weird rocking motion that is believed to set uppressure waves in the soil that lures earthworms to within reach of its long, forceps-like bill. (See BBB18 in Biological Anomalies: Birds) Besides indulging in strange, wild ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 83: Sep-Oct 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Flat-faced hominid skulls from china The "African Eve" theory of human evolution was given much play in the media a few years back. According to the "African" view, modern humans arose exclusively in Africa and, about 100,000 years ago, expanded rapidly from there into Europe and Asia, displacing "lesser" hominids. Unfortunately, the DNA studies that stimulated this conjecture have been found to be flawed. And now new fossil testimony casts further doubt. In 1989 and 1990, near the Han River, in China's Hube Province, anthropologists found hominid skulls with the characteristic flat faces of modern humans. These skulls seem to be about 350,000 years old. Although they apparently retain some primitive features, paleoanthropologist D. Erler, of the University of California, asserted, "This shows that modern features were emerging in different parts of the world." In other words, all of the evolutionary action was not confined to Africa. Proponents of the "African Eve" theory retort that the dating of the Chinese skulls is questionable and that flat faces alone are not enough to support the idea that modern humans arose separately in widely separated locales? (Gibbons, Ann; "An About-Face for Modern Human Origins," Science, 256: 1521, 1992. Also: Bower, Bruce; "Erectus Unhinged," Science News, 141:408, 1992.) Comment ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 105: May-Jun 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The karoo: the greatest vertebrate graveyard In SF#104, we mentioned a vast bone bed consisting mainly of fish remains. Now, an exchange of letters in a creationist journal gives us the opportunity to present a few facts about a giant bone bed of terrestrial vertebrate fossils: the Karoo Supergroup of southern Africa. The point being discussed by the creationists is the source of the estimated 800 billion vertebrate fossils contain ed in the Karoo deposits. Whence this astronomical number of mainly swampdwelling reptiles? And whence the immense volume of sandstones and shale that contains their bones? The Genesis Flood model favored by creationists requires that all 800 billion animals be drowned at the same time and swept into South Africa and fossilized. But, they ask themselves, could the entire earth ever have supported so many swamploving reptiles at the same time? Is the Flood model threatened? (Froede, Carl R., Jr.; "The Karoo and Other Fossil Graveyards: A Further Reply to Mr. Yake," Creation Research Society Quarterly, 32:199, 1996. A response by Bill Yake followed this letter.) Comment. The figure of 800 billion fossils appears in several authoritative works, although concern is expressed about its magnitude and assumptions employed in calculating it. Once thing that is certain is that the Karoo deposits are immense and packed with bones. Even after decades of fossil collecting, bones are still sticking out of the ground. ...
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... was probably a Home sapiens -- not a Homo erectus -- and marks another spot of the globe where humans may have evolved. .. .. . "The reappraisal of Narmada Man preceded the recently announced discovery of two Middle Pleistocene fossils from Yunxian, China, that seem to share the traits of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Kennedy would like to bury the taxon Homo erectus altogether, "Those who would like to keep the taxon see a 200,000year-old Narmada Man as a last gasp for Homo erectus," he said." What will the anthropologists do now with all those skulls they labeled so confidently as Homo erectus? Actually, the possibility underscored by Narmada Man is that modern humans evolved almost simultaneously in several parts of the planet, not just in Africa. (Anonymous; "Homo erectus Never Existed?" Geotimes, 37:11, October 1992.) Reference. Human evolution and paleontological evidence are subjects covered in BHE in Biological Anomalies: Humans III. To order this catalog, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #89, SEP-OCT 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects 'TERMITE BANDS' IN SOUTH AFRICA Few animals besides man have significantly affected our planet's geology. To be sure, corals built the Great Barrier Reef and beavers left their mark on the hydrology of parts of Canada and the U.S .; but termites!? It seems that in southern Africa this industrious insect is responsible for enormous striped patterns of ridges and vegetation bands. These amazingly regular patterns are caused by alternating low ridges and gullies. The ridges are about 2 meters high, up to a kilometer long, and separated by about 50 meters. The ridges themselves are closely spaced termite mounds. Just why the termites choose to build their mounds in long rows is an unanswered question. And how do the termites maintain strict parallelism, especially since they are blind? How could termites in one mound know how their neighbors in the nearest ridge, 50 meters away, are building their mounds? Anyway, the ridges help channel the flow of water and thus the growth of vegetation, giving immense swathes of country a corrugated appearance. (Sattaur, Omar; "Termites Change the Face of Africa," New Scientist, p. 27, January 26, 1991.) Comment. In Australia, the so-called "magnetic" termites build their slab-like mounds so as to minimize the amount of sun-generated heat. From Science Frontiers #74, MAR-APR 1991 . 1991-2000 ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The ancient-humans-in-europe controversy Many times in the published pages of SF appears the question: "When did humans first arrive in the Americas? It is amu sing to find that European archeologists have an analogous problem, only there the accepted date is about 1,000,000 years ago, compared to 12,000 years for the Americas. Most European archeologists believe that primitive humans migrated northward from Africa into Europe, but the timing has always been a little fuzzy. The Europeans are willing to consider minor adjustments in the million-year figure. However, there are now several sites seeming to boast human artifacts that are about 2.5 million years old. This is just too old, and a debate has commenced. The most controversial site is Saint Eble, just below Mont Coupet, in southcentral France. Here one finds quartz fragments that look manmade to some archeologists, but seem products of natural fracturing to others. These crude objects are what some American archeologists call "Carterfacts," after G. Carter, who has found similar rock fragments in the Americas and dates them much, much earlier than 12,000 B.P . In Europe, there is little argument about the 2.5 -million-year-date for the stratum in which the controversial rocks are found. The debate is over whether they are natural or products of human manu facture. The French champion of ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 68: Mar-Apr 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Now it's greece!The general consensus is that modern humans first emerged in Africa. This assertion was challenged in SF#66, where an origin in southeast Asia was championed. Now, it's Greece! "The immediate ancestors to the human family - the hominids - might have been living in Greece, rather than Afica, some 10 million years ago in the late Miocene, according to the French palaeontologist Luis de Bonis. "In September 1989, de Bonis and George Koufos of the University of Thessaloniki discovered the fossilized face of an ape-like creature, Ourano pithecus, at a site in the Valley of Rain, 40 kilometres northwest of Thessaloniki. Although the fossil has not yet reached the scientific press, de Bonis has publically described it as a possible precursor of the earliest known hominid species, Australopithecus afarensis , from Africa 3.5 million years ago." (Lewin, Roger; "Humans May Have Come from Greece, Not Africa," New Scientist, p. 35, January 27, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #68, MAR-APR 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 66: Nov-Dec 1989 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Doubts About Two Ritually Recited Theories Do you think humans originated in Africa? We have heard for so long now that modern humans got their start in Africa. (This assertion is as hackneyed as: "Life began in a warm little pond"!) There is, of course, some evidence for the African claim. Studies of genetic material and the fossil record are suggestive, although the latter includes the Middle East as a possible birthplace. Other data, however, put the "founding group" of modern humans in Southeast Asia. The iconoclast here is C.G . Turner, II, an anthropologist at Arizona State University. He has analyzed secondary dental traits (number of roots, bumps, etc.) of 12,000 individuals from around the world - both ancient and modern. Turner believes that the "great web of humanity" originated in Southeast Asia. Since then, two large populations, each recognizable by their dental features, have evolved.: (1 ) northeast Asians and the ancient residents of the Americas; and (2 ) southeast Asians, Europeans, ancient Australians, and Africans. Also of note is the close resemblance between native Australians and Africans. (Bower, B.; "Asian Human Origin Theory Gets New Teeth," Science News, 136:100, 1989.) Did the eruption of Thera do in the Minoans? According to popular archeolo-gical doctrine, ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 77: Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Do birds use genetic maps during migration?Routes taken by migrating German and Austrian blackcaps en route to Africa. Hybrids bisect these initial paths and would end up in the Alps. Many young birds migrate successfully without help from older birds who have made the trip before. The implication is that migration instructions, perhaps even some sort of map of astronomical or geo graphical references, are somehow written upon the genes inherited from their parents. Just how maps can be coded into gene structure is anyone's guess. (In fact, since the DNA in the genes seems to cody only for protein synthesis, the locations and characters of inheritable maps and other biological instructions are not immediately obvious.) The problem has been exacerbated by recent experiments with German and Austrian blackcaps. These two common European warbler species take different routes to Africa in the winter. The Ger-man blackcaps fly southwest and the Austrian southeast--routes 50 apart. A. Helbig has crossed the German and Austrian blackcaps to see what route(s ) their hybrid offspring would take. Curiously, they favored a route intermediate between those of their parents. The hybrids' route -- bisecting those of the parents' -- would take the hybrids right into the Alps, where survival would be unlikely. (Day, Stephen; "Migrating Birds Use Genetic Maps to Navigate," New Scientist, p. 21, April 21, 1991.) ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 69: May-Jun 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Clash Of Hypotheses Millions of Mima Mounds dot various terrains west of the Mississippi, from British Columbia south to northern Sonora, Mexico. They are also found in Africa and South America. Mima Mounds are formed of soil and small stones. They are often 2 meters high, with diameters of 20 meters. Mound densities can reach 25-50 per hectare. Mima Mounds, prai-rie mounds, pimple mounds, or whatever they are called locally, are widely thought to be the work of pocket gophers, although this hypothesis is still contested, as we shall see below. No one denies that pocket gophers are often associated with the mounds. In fact, a recent scientific paper describes the relationship between the sizes and shapes of the mounds and the numbers of resident gophers. The authors of this paper, G.W . Cox and J. Hunt, state confidently that: The seismic waves intersect, an interference pattern forms. Loose surface material collects at points of minimum surface disturbance (open circles). "Investigations of Mima mounds in western North America support the hypothesis that mounds are formed by the gradual translocation of soil by pocket gophers..." (Cox, George W., and Hunt, Jodee; "Form of Mima Mounds in Relation to Occupancy by Pocket Gophers," Journal of Mammalogy, 71:90, 1990.) In another paper, appearing at almost the same time, ...
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... in less than one minute. Most of the crew were trapped as they slept below deck. Only Sefton and eight shipmates survive." Accounts such as that above are part of sea lore. Waves 50-100 feet high have been frequently reported over the years. Most often, they are encountered in rough seas, but some walls of water have smashed ships in relatively calm waters. A tanker encountering a steep-sided giant wave in the Aguhlas Current of the African coast. Until recently, oceanographers were confident that any unusually large wave was just the chance addition of two smaller waves. Now, a consensus is emerging that at least two other factors are important: seabed topography and ocean currents. To illustrate, perhaps the most dangerous stretch of water in the world lies off southeast Africa, where the fast (8 feet/second) Agulhas Current often runs into storm waves surging up from Antarctica. The African continental shelf is so shaped that it funnels the current directly into the storm waves. Immense, steep-fronted waves have broken many a ship here. In sum, the old statistical theory about the origin of rogue waves has been jettisoned, but a new approach is still in the formative stages. (Brown, Joseph; "Rogue Waves," Discover, 10:47, April 1989.) Comment. But can any theory explain giant, solitary waves on calm seas. For more on this subject, see GHW in Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds. To order this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #66, NOV- ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Wandering Albatrosses Really Wander Tracks of three Wandering albatrosses in the southern Indian Ocean. Six male wandering albatrosses nesting on Crozet Island, between South Africa and Antarctica, were fitted with tiny (180-gram) transmitters and tracked by satellite. Their flights were amazing: "Tracks of wandering albatrosses in the southwestern Indian Ocean showed that they covered between 3,600 and 15,000 km in a single foraging trip during an incubation shift. They flew at speeds of up to 80 km per h and over distances of up to 900 km per day. They remained active at night, particularly on moonlit nights..." (Jouventin, Pierre, and Weimerskirch, Henri; "Satellite Tracking of Wandering Albatrosses,; Nature, 343:746, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 72: Nov-Dec 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Birds Of Burden Anthropologists long ago decided that the ostrich was domesticated only in historical times. They pooh-poohed a prehistory sketch showing an ostrich carrying a human rider and pictographs of ostriches apparently fitted with pack saddles. The latest discovery may change their minds. It is a Neolithic figure (5000-7000 years old), deeply engraved on rocks along the River Blaka, in Niger, Africa. Here, the ostrich definitely appears to be loaded with cargo that is strapped on. The bird's legs are folded in a resting position. The Egyptians occasionally captured young ostriches and broke them to harness, but this engraving seems to prove that this practice had been going on long before. (Bahn, Paul; "A Head in the Sands of Time," Nature, 346:794, 1990.) Comment. One wonders what Neolithic goods the ostrich caravans carried and where they were bound. From Science Frontiers #72, NOV-DEC 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 75: May-Jun 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unusual electrical (? ) phenomena November 24, 1975. Tendele Hutted Camp, Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa. The following observations were made during violent electrical storms. "Around 10pm, WN observed a luminous vertical column in an easterly direction which appeared suddenly at a location low on the hillside on the far bank of the Tugela River at a distance of about 1km. This stationary light column seemed to have the dimensions of a pencil stub (approx. 50mm x approx. 7mm) held vertically at arm's length. The column, which had a bluish glow like a fluorescent tube, was visible for about 5 to 10 seconds. .. .. . "At 11.15pm, when the intensity of the storm had abated and the sky was lit intermittently with flashes of sheet lightning, the writer saw a luminous spherical object, seemingly of golf to tennis ball size, moving rapidly with an apparently vertical undulating motion from left (northeast) to right (southwest) on a horizontal course in the general direction of Mont-Aux-Sources (3282m) where the Tugela River has its origin. This sighting lasted 2 to 3 seconds. About 3 minutes later, another similar object crossed the field of view, following the same course as the first object and showing about 2 or 3 undulations in its passage. At midnight, a third object was seen having the same characteristics as the first two objects. ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 77: Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Cooler heads, bigger brains?When anthropologist D. Falk discovered that an automobile's engine was limited in power by its radiator's capacity to cool it, he applied this thinking to the human brain. The human brain, like the automobile engine, must be kept cool if it is to function well. It follows that if the brain of an animal is not functioning well, the body that brain controls will not perform well either. Overheated brains, then, are sure roads to extinction in the highly competitive natural world. A couple million years ago, two groups of human precursors were competing for dominance in Africa. The group that won and subsequently evolved into Homo sapiens had, according to Falk, a better brain-cooling system. The evolutionary development that probably led to this advantage was a more extensive network of emissary veins, which permitted better dissipation of heat. This, in turn, allowed the evolution of larger brains and dominance by Homo sapiens. Other anthropologists, how ever doubt that such a minor change in the circulatory system could account for the emergence of modern man. (Shipman, Pat; "Hotheads," Discover, 12:18, April 1991.) Comment. What an intriguing concept! Perhaps human male baldness also confers more cooling efficiency and is setting the stage for a new expansion of the human brain -- at least the male brain, sorry girls! More seriously ...
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... pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Valleys Of Death And Elephant Graveyards Legend has it that elephants near death separate from their companions and trek alone to ancestral graveyards, dying only when they reach these special places. The truth is that accumulations of elephant bones have indeed been discovered, but no one seems to have followed expiring elephants to these boneyards. We hope someone will tell us otherwise, but the tale seems apocrythal. The piles of elephant bones could, in fact, be the work of mazukus. (Mazuku means "evil wind" in Swahili.) It seems that there are places on this earth where CO2 and other deadly gases emitted from volcanic vents accumulate. J. Lockwood and M. Tuttle investigated three mazukus known to natives in East Africa. In these low-lying areas, they came upon the remains of small mammals and birds that has been asphyxiated by concentrations of CO2 dense enough to snuff out burning kerosene-soaked rags. Unfortunately for the elephantgraveyard legend, they found no elephant bones. (Anonymous; "Elephant Graveyards," Discover, 12:10, May 1991.) Comment. It would be interesting to know if other species of animals are found in the elephant graveyards. So-called "valleys of death" are found elsewhere in the world, including Yellowstone. Reference. Other "valleys of death" are cataloged in ESC5 in Anomalies in Geo logy, described here . From Science Frontiers #77, SEP-OCT 1991 . 1991-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , even after centuries of modification, traces of their original languages survive. In 1492, an estimated 30- 40 million Native Americans spoke more than 1,000 different languages. Can anyone discern patterns in such a hodgepodge? Careful study reveals many similarities. For example, all New World languages can be classified into three groups: The Eskimo-Aleut or Eurasiatic group, which is related to Indo-European, Japanese, Ainu, Korean, and some other languages. The Na-Dene family, related to a different set of Old World languages, such as Sino-Tibetan, Basque, (North) Caucasian, and others. The Amerind family. "The origins of the Amerind family are the most baffling, but there are a number of apparent cognates with language families of Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Oceania. For example, the root 'tik,' meaning 'finger, one, to point,' is found in Africa, Europe, and Asia, as well as in the Americas. The Amerind words for 'dog' bear a striking resemblance to the Proto-Indo-European word..." Can the language analysts answer the question in our title above? Based upon the above grouping, they say: "No more than three." (Ruhlin, Merritt; "Voices from the Past," Natural History, 96:6 , March 1987.) Comment. While the people carrying the roots of the Eskino-Aleut and Na-Dene language groups may well have come across the Bering Land Bridge, ...
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... terms of the physical and chemical properties as well as the time scale of the processes that take place on either side of it. Its shape, if different from that predicted by the hydrostatic equilibrium theory, may contain information important to our understanding of geodynamic processes in the mantle or the geomagnetic field generated in the outer core." (Ref. 1, and also item #7 below) The earth's magnetic field possesses four lobes which remain fixed relative to the earth's surface, as demonstrated by 300 years of data. These lobes do not drift westward like the general field. (Ref. 2) "Core-spot pairs" of magnetic intensity seem to move westward and poleward. In the southern hemisphere, they originate under the Indian Ocean and drift under South Africa into the southern Atlantic. This motion reminds one of sunspot motion, except that sun-spots move equatorward. There may be a connection here. (Ref. 2) The general decrease in the earth's magnetic field over the past few centuries may be due to intensifying core spots, which are magnetized in a sense opposite that of the main field. (Ref. 2) Large, deep earthquakes in 1983 and 1984 produced slow, wavelike changes in the local gravitational field at the surface, as measured by new superconducting gravity meters. The periods were 13-15 hours. (Ref. 2) Gravity and magnetism measurements from satellites show strong, coincident anomalies in the Indian Ocean (3 N 81 E). In fact the whole ocean surface is depressed in this ...
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... knows that it differs in several ways from the rest of North America. Now we find that Florida doesn't even belong to North America; it is an interloper, an "exotic terrane." How does one know this? Three facts hint that Florida doesn't belong: When pre-Cenozoic land masses are fitted together, assuming the truth of continental drift, an awkward overlap arises that suggests that Florida was not always where it is today; The latest paleomagnetic measurement of Florida's Paleozoic latitude is consistent with it being part of Gond wanaland rather than at its present latitude; Radiometric dating of zircons retrieved from a core extracted from Northern Florica yield an age of 16501800 million years. There are no known source rocks in the southeastern U.S . that old; Africa and South America are likely sources of such zircons. "These (latter) two new lines of geologic data provide strong evidence confirming previous suggestions that Florida was part of Gondwana during the early Paleozoic and that its current configuration is that of an exotic terrane sutured to North America during the fragmentation of Pangea." (Opdyke, Neil D., et al; "Florida as an Exotic Terrane: Paleomagnetic and Geochronologic Investigation of Lower Paleozoic Rocks from the Subsurface of Florida," Geology , 15:900, 1987.) Comment. Other exotic terranes have been found in western North America, making the continent a veritable pastiche. From Science Frontiers #57, MAY-JUN 1988 . 1988-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... . Buck has now brought that paper up to date in the current Quarterly Review of Biology with a 24page contribution. It is difficult to do justice to this impressive work in a newsletter. Our readers will have to be satisfied with a mere two paragraphs, in which Buck summarizes some of the incredible synchronies. "More than three centuries later Porter observed a very different behavior in far southwestern Indiana in which, from the ends of a long row of tall riverbank trees, synchronized flashes '. .. began moving toward each other, met at the middle, crossed and traveled to the ends, as when two pebbles are dropped simultaneously into the ends of a long narrow tank of water...' "In 1961 Adamson described a still different type of display, the first from Africa: 'It is then too that one sees the great belt of light, some ten feet wide, formed by thousands upon thousands of fireflies whose green phosphorescence bridges the shoulder-high grass. The fluorescent band composed of these tiny organisms lights up and goes out with a precision that is perfectly synchronized, and one is left wondering what means of communication they possess which enables them to coordinate their shining as though controlled by a mechanical device.' A generation later, a flurry of full- dress bioluminescence expeditions had obtained photometric, cinematographic and electrophysiological measurements from congregational displays in Thailand, New Britain, New Guinea and Malaysia, confirming the reality of mass synchrony and uncovering a variety of types. Contemporaneously, Otto and Smiley photographed group wave synchrony of flying fireflies in central Texas, Ohba ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 50: Mar-Apr 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Chain of crevicular habitats?Towards the end of an article on the eerie blue holes of the Bahamas appears this intriguing paragraph: "William Hart, of the Smithsonian Institution, and Tom Iliffe, of the Bermuda Biological Station, believe that blue holes are one link in a chain of crevicular habitats -- caves, fissures, rocks of the sea floor -- that stretches from one side of the ocean to the other, from the Americas, across the sea floor and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, to Africa and the Mediterranean. Related Amphipods are not only found in Bahamian caves but in marine caves in Bermuda, the Pacific, and the Yucatan Peninsula." (Palmer, Robert; "In the Lair of the Lusca," Natural History, 96:42, January 1987.) Comment. With this, the vision arises of an earth-girdling, biologically and geologically connected stratum of life that we know next to nothing about. How porous is the earth's crust, and how far down in these pores and interstices does life survive? From Science Frontiers #50, MAR-APR 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 47: Sep-Oct 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Another Luminous Aerial Bubble September 1943. On a ship in the South Atlantic enroute from South Africa to Brazil. "During the voyage, a multicolored object about the size of a basketball appeared and the ship changed course to parallel the course of the object. The object was in view for about 20 minutes, moved slowly across the water at a height of 5 feet, and finally disappeared. It looked like a glass ball and appeared to have a membrane enclosing it. Its motion was from the NW to SE and it was seen sometime between 3:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon sometime in September 1943. The color was at times orange and yellow, sometimes green, blue, and red. The sky was overcast and the object was on the starboard side of the ship as it moved towards the NW. The ship's crew, consisting of about 20 men, saw the event and concluded that it might be a 'fireball.'" Original observation by Charles L. Reifenhler. (Seal, James; personal communication, June 25, 1986.) Comment. For more accounts of Lumi-nouw Aerial Bubbles, see category GLD7 in Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights. This catalog is described here . August 17, 1876. Numerous, luminous, multicolored, bubble-like spheres observed at Ringstead Bay, England. Thousands of the iridescent spheres engulfed observers. This account (Catlog # ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 43: Jan-Feb 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A JAPANESE PRESENCE IN ANCIENT MEXICO?A. von Wuthenau, a specialist in Precolumbian art, at the University of the Americas in Mexico City, has long been a champion of ancient contacts between the New World and Africa, the Orient, and the Mediterranean region. For example, his book Unexpected Faces in Ancient America contains hundreds of photographs of Precolumbian figurines and other artwork showing facial features typical of the Old World and Asia. His latest find consists of a terra cotta model of an ancient sailing ship manned by figurines of ten oarsmen, all with striking Japanese features. The model boat is one foot long; the oarsmen, two inches high. It was discovered at a burial site in the Guerrero region of Mexico. Von Wuthenau has tentatively dated the boat as 2,500 years old (Anonymous; "Sailors in a Model of an Ancient Ship Found in Mexico Have Asian Features," Boston Sunday Globe, November 10, 1985. Cr. J. Whittall.) A sketch of one of the giant Olmec stone heads from von Wuthenau's book. He believes this particular head, La Venta III, displays Asiatic features. Others seem African. From Science Frontiers #43, JAN-FEB 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... the germ arriving with the rats on ships docking in California during the Gold Rush of 1849. But how could the plague have crossed the mountains and across several radically different ecosystems? One would anticipate finding records of the plague as it made its way into the Southwest. It is true that a less virulent disease, the sylvatic plague, transmitted by similar mechanisms, does exist in the Pacific Coast area; but the bubonic plague does seem highly localized in Arizona and New Mexico. Perhaps another explanation can be discovered in the history of the bubonic plague and the settlement of the Southwest. The plague seems to have commenced in Athens about 430 BC. More or less isolated epidemics followed, but from 1334 to 1351 the disease decimated most of the known world: Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Of course, the American Southwest was not part of the "known world" of 1334-1351. But, coincidentally (? ), this was just about the time that the Hohokam and Anasazi cultures began to decline rapidly in the Southwest. Link this observation to the purported Roman and Hebrew artifacts in the region (SF#43), and one sees the possibility that Old World travellers brought the bubonic plague to the New World well before Columbus landed! (Underwood, L. Lyle; "Bubonic Plague in the Southwest," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 14:207, 1985.) From Science Frontiers #45, MAY-JUN 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 25: Jan-Feb 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Review Of The Tektite Problem Tektites are small glassy stones with drop-like and button-like shapes. They are found primarily in four strew fields in Europe, Australia, North America, and Africa. Just about everyone believes that tektites are once-liquid droplets of rock that were solidified in flight. The major question -- often intemperately debated -- is the location of the tektite source. Are they of terrestrial, lunar, cometary, or some other origin? A recent study by Shaw and Wasserberg, using element abundances as a guide, strongly favors a terrestrial origin, with meteor impacts serving as the liquefying and splashing agents. Indeed, specific craters have long been associated with the European and African strew fields. Those who believe that the tektites were splashed all the way from the moon by meteor impacts have not given up yet. One provocative fact stressed in this article is that the ages of the four groups of tektites are 35, 14, 1.3 , and 0.7 million years. Tektites are all quite young! (Smith, Peter J.; "The Origin of Tektites -- Settled at Last?" Nature, 300: 217, 1982.) Comment. Were there no tektite-forming meteor impacts prior to 35 millions of years ago? Is this observation related to the great rarity of meteorites in sedimentary rocks? Just what is different about the past 35 million years? ...
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... Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Romans in rio?In 1976, diver Jose Roberto Texeira salvaged two intact amphorae from the bottom of Guanabara Bay, 15 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro. Six years later, archeologist Robert Marx found thousands of pottery fragments in the same locality, including 200 necks from amphorae. Amphorae are tall storage vessels that were used widely throughout ancient Europe. These particular amphorae are of Roman manufacture, circa the second century B.C . Much controversy erupted around the finds because Spain and Portugal both claim to have discovered Brazil around 1500 A.D . Roman artifacts were distinctly unwelcome. More objectively, the thought of an ancient Roman crossing of the Atlantic is not so farfetched. Roman wrecks have been discovered in the Azores; and the shortest way across the Atlantic is from Africa to Brazil -- only 18 days using modern sailing vessels. (Sheckley, Robert; "Romans in Rio," Omni, 5:43, June 1983.) From Science Frontiers #28, JUL-AUG 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... of the water. From this difficult-to-reach body of water, almost right on the equator, come reports of a large unidentified animal -- Mokele-Mbembe. In 1983, Marcelin Agnagna, a biologist, led an expedition to Lake Tele in hopes of observing MokeleMbembe. The expedition was successful, but we don't know too much more than we did before. Agnagna and others ob-served the animal from a distance of about 240 meters. Unfortunately no photos were taken. Mokele-Mbembe appeared as shown in the accompanying sketch. What is it? (Agnagna, Marcelin; "Results of the First Congolese Mokele-Mbembe Expedition," Cryptozoology, 2:103, 1983.) Comment. Vague rumors have long floated abound that dinosaurs survive in deepest Africa! Maybe they are true. Sketch of a large animal seen in Lake Tele that may be the famous Mokele-Mbembe. From Science Frontiers #33, MAY-JUN 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... says that the Earth's interior is stable, an in ner core of nickel iron surrounded by an outer layer that behaves like a fluid. Perhaps we are completely wrong and the inner core is in some state nobody has yet imagined, a state that is undergoing a transition from a high-density state to a lower density state, and pushing out the crust, the skin of the Earth, as it expands." (Owen, Hugh; "The Earth Is Expanding and We Don't Know Why, "New Scientist, p. 27, November 22, 1984.) Reference. For more on the Expanding Earth Hypothesis, see category ETL6 in our Catalog: Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds. This book is described here . Relative bad fit of South America and Africa on a globe of modern size is indicated by the black gaps (gores). The black areas disappear on an earth with a diameter 80% of the modern value. From Science Frontiers #37, JAN-FEB 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 32: Mar-Apr 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Oklo Phenomenon And Evolution A decade ago, French scientists discovered the remains of a natural nuclear reactor at Oklo, Gabon, in Africa. Somehow nature had concentrated enough uranium-235 in one place to start a chain reaction, with the attendant production of heat and radiation. Now U-235 is radioactive, and there is now much less around than in past geological eras. This has led some scientists to speculate that many more Okla phenomena may have flamed momentarily in earlier times, especially Precambrian days. The mutagenic radiation from such natural reactors could have been a major driving force in evolution. (Anonymous; "Natural Reactors Helped Evolution," New Scientist, 100:737, 1983.) Reference. For details on the Oklo Phenomenon, see category ESP13 in our Anomalies in Geology. For a description of this Catalog, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #32, MAR-APR 1984 . 1984-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 24: Nov-Dec 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Africa not man's origin!The following abstract is from a 1982 paper in Nature. "It has been suggested that the evolution of man took place in Africa. This suggestion results from the unusual abundance of fossil material in Africa that is quite ancient in comparison with what is known elsewhere. The theory of an African origin has influenced the interpretation of the age of some non-African archaeologial sites. A case in point is the 'Ubeidiya locality in Israel, which is generally considered to be about 700,000 yr old because it has been assumed by a few that the associated Early Acheulian tool industry, and the persons who used it, would have taken considerable time to disperse from Olduvai Gorge to this non-African site in Israel. Here we evaluate fossil mammals from 'Ubeidiya, which are stratigraphically and directly associated with Early Acheulian artifacts, and find no substantial reason for considering the locality younger than 2Myr, and possibly as much as 500,000 yr older than any record of Early Acheulian artefacts or Homo erectus in Africa." (Repenning, Charles A., and Fejfar, Oldrich; "Evidence for Earlier Date of 'Ubeidiya, Israel, Hominid Site," Nature, 299:344, 1982.) From Science Frontiers #24, NOV-DEC 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Senegambian Megalithic Monument Complex When one thinks of megaliths, one's thoughts usually turn to Britain and Brittany, forgetting that North Africa is covered with them. M.H . Hill sketches out in this paper the full extent of the great tract of megalithic remains on the Atlantic coast of Africa near Cape Verde, which he calls the Senegambian Monument Complex because it sits astride both Senegal and Gambia. An archeological inventory of the region discloses 212 pillar-circle sites and 251 "tombelles," which are stone cairns or heaps often surrounded by ring-like stone walls. Hundreds of sites with tumuli also dot the area. One of the pillar-circle sites boasts all of 50 individual pillar circles. Some of the pillars are topped with cupules, raised discs, or balls. The fanciest pillars are V- or Y-shaped with crossbars. Archeological exploration of these impressive sites is incomplete. Preliminary dating makes the Senegambian Complex over 1,000 years old. The functions of this vast array of megalithic sites is unknown, although it is not obviously astronomical. (Hill, Matthew H.; "The Senegambian Monument Complex: Current Status and Prospects for Research," in Megaliths to Medicine Wheels: Boulder Structures in Archaeology, Michael Wilson, et al, eds., Calgary, 1981, p. 419.) Reference. Much more information about these North African sites may be found in our Handbook: ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 9: Winter 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Ancient Dispersal Of Useful Plants George F. Carter, a noted geographer, summarizes the botanical evidence for early transoceanic voyages. Domestic cotton. Thousands of years old in the Americas; believed to be a hybrid between New World wild cotton and species from southwest Africa. Bottle gourds. Of African origin but known in Peru about 11,000 years ago; dispersible by ocean currents but appeared in Peru only after humans learned how to navigate on the oceans. Sweet potatoes. A New World plant that has been known in Polynesia for at least 500 years; but the South American name for the sweet potato (kumara) turns out to be a Sanskrit word from India, which is most perplexing. Coconuts. Arrived in the Americas from the Indian Ocean region via Polynesia; can be dispersed by ocean currents, but this long eastward voyage would have been counter to many currents. Peanuts. Well-established on the Peruvian coast thousands of years ago, but the same variety was known in preShang China before 1500 BC. (Carter, George F.; "Kilmer's Law: Plant Evidence of Early Voyages," Oceans, 12:8 , 1979.) Reference. Our Handbook Ancient Man contains much more evidence for Precolumbian contacts with the New World. Information on this large volume is located at: here . From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Libyan Signs From Southeastern Kentucky Curious images and writings turn up with surprising frequency in North America. The sculpture illustrated was among several found in a cave on the Virginia-Kentucky border. Made life-sized from hard sandstone, it bears curious symbols on its back. Quite obviously, it is the head of an Indian chief, but the symbols might be Libyan, according to Barry Fell. He translates them as: "luminous, radiant, sun-like." Interestingly enough, the ancient leaders of the Natchez Tribe were called "Suns" and wore feathered headdresses like those of the Plains Indians. Further, the Natchez Suns apparently maintained that their ancestors came to North America from North Africa -- thus the Libyan symbols! (Calhoun, Vernon J.; "Libyan Evidence in Southeast Kentucky," Epigraphic Society, Occasional Publications, 7:127, 1978.) Comment. Much controversy swirls about such symbols and their proposed translations. From Science Frontiers #8 , Fall 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... , the monument shown in the sketch was found in the Immidir district. It is basically V-shaped, with two sets of "auxiliary" arms, one V-type and one axle-type, both of which are detached from the hub like "spare parts." The tips of the north-south arms in the sketch are about 75 meters apart. Clearly, orientation was important to the builders of the monuments, but the asymmetry and auxiliary arms are puzzling. The stonework in these central Saharan monuments is good. Dates are elusive, but all indications are that the sites are ancient. (Milburn, Mark; "Multi-Arm Stone Tombs of Central Sahara," Antiquity, 55:210, 1981.) Reference. For more on megalithic ruins in North Africa, consult our Handbook: Ancient Man. This book is described here . From Science Frontiers #21, MAY-JUN 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Stone Alignments In Subsaharan Africa Megalithic sites are found everywhere; many were apparently used for calendar reckoning. Although numerous megalithic circles and other arrangements are known in Africa, particularly Ethiopia, astronomy does not seem to have been a primary objective of African sites. Now, however, a stone alignment in northwestern Kenya called Namoratunga has been found with unmistakable astronomical overtones. At Namoratunga, 19 large basalt pillars are arranged in rows forming a suggestive pattern. Since the site is dated at approximately 300 B.C ., archeologists have taken sightings on seven prominent stars as they would have appeared during this period. (The azimuths of some of these stars had changed by as much as 12 in 2,200 years.) The stars chosen are those employed by Eastern Cushites, the present inhabitants of the region, in calculating their rather sophisticated calendar. Pairs and frequently triads of these pillars line up very accurately (to less than 1 ) with the seven key stars. The people occupying this part of Kenya about 300 B.C ., therefore, probably possessed detailed astronomical information. (Lynch, B.M ., and Robbins, L.H .; "Namoratunga: The First Archaeoastronomical Evidence in Sub-Saharan Africa," Science, 200:766, 1978.) Comment. This astronomical sophistication is consistent with the celestial knowledge of the Dogon tribe mentioned in the controversial book: The Sirius Mystery. For more on African ...
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... Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Immense Circular Terrestrial Structures Of Great Age J.M . Saul has analyzed many topographic and geological maps and discovered faint circular terrestrial patterns that have mostly not been described before. These circles measure between 7 and 700 kilometers in diameter and are nearly perfect geometrical figures. The rims of the circles are generally raised and characterized by fracturing and brecciation. These structures can be traced in many geological environments and rocks of all ages. They control to an extraordinary extent regional geology and ore mineralization. To date, some 1,170 circles have been discovered, of which more than half can be visually traced for 360 . Larger circles may exist; one with a diameter of about 2,200 kilometers seems to encircle the southern end of Africa. In the United States, the centers of the circles fall in a northwesterly trend in Arizona; northeasterly in the Appalachians. These circular structures may have been created about 4 billion years ago by intense meteorite bombardment similar to and perhaps identical with the bombardment that marked the surfaces of the moon and other inner planets. (Saul, John M.; "Circular Structures of Large Scale and Great Age on the Earth's Surface," Nature, 271:345, 1978.) Reference. Huge craters and other large circular structures are cataloged at ETC1 and ETC2 in Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds. To order this volume, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #3 , April 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
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... over the South Atlantic in 1964 Scientific disbelief in this phenomenon recedes as observations accumulate. We present below a few short excerpts from a scientific report: "Video images from space showing a single upward luminous discharge into the clear night air above a thunderstorm were recorded for the first time during the space shuttle STS-32 mission, and later during the STS-31 mission and other missions using the shuttle's payload-bay TV cameras. .. .. . "Figure 1 [impossible to reproduce] shows the upward luminous discharge that was seen to move out of the top of a single thunderstorm during the flight of STS-31. This video image was taken at 0335:59 UTC 28 April 1990 while the shuttle was on its 55th orbit and passing over Mauritania, northwest Africa. .. .. . "The storm that had the luminous discharge was located at approximately 7.5 N, 4.0 E, and was about 2000 km from the shuttle's position. The lightning discharge was determined to be at least 31 km long. .. .. . "We are now trying to understand the significance in relationship to the earth's atmosphere and the global electric circuit." (Vaughan, Otha H., Jr., et al; "A Cloud-to-Space Lightning as Recorded by the Space Shuttle Payload-Bay TV Cameras," Monthly Weather Review , 120: 1459, 1992.) Comment. Somewhere 31 kilometers above the thundercloud, there must have been a concentration of electrical charge that acted as a ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 141: May-Jun 2002 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology An Ice-Age North Atlantic voyage? Somehow bananas slipped into West Africa 2,500 years ago Ancient messages on the Shroud of Turin Astronomy Europa's anomalous infrared spectrum Are the cosmic carriers of life comets or meteorites? Biology 'Modern' feathers on a non-avian dinosaur The intelligence of plants Unexplained weight-gain transient at the moment of death Geology Flank collapses: Generators of giant tsunamis Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel Geophysics Ball lightning gets some scientific respect Unknown species puts on spectacular light show Psychology Why music? Physics Falling in a quantized way Unclassified Where are those aliens? ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: Mar-Apr 2000 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Archeometeorology Viruses as Ancient Artifacts 100-Mile-Long Wall in Africa Astronomy A Few Cracks in the Foundations of Mainstream Astronomy The Ganymede Magnetic Paradox Biology " Uprooting the Tree of Life " Heart-Stoppers Geology Frozen in Time A Lurch of Death Burps of Death Geophysics Target: Southern Spain A Different Sort of Crop Circle Numberless Black Discs Psychology Fake Needles but Real Knives The Consciousness Gene Mathematics How to Win by Loosing (twice) ...
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... : 2-3 centimeters across and about half as deep. No one doubts that the Jinmium site is ancient. Judging from the sediments that cover the lowest circles, these engravings are about 60,000 years old. If this date survives scrutiny, the Jinmium carvings will be the oldest human art on the planet -- twice as old as anything found in Europe. No wonder the circles have created a stir. Actually, though, a larger issue is at stake. In the sediments around the engraved boulders, anthropologists have discovered what seem to be even-more-ancient signs of human activity: stone tools stratigraphically dated at 116,000 and 176,000 years. The problem here is that most anthropologists hold (rather fervently) that modern humans did not expand out of Africa until about 100,000 years ago. Paleoanthropologist R. Klein offered the following pertinent comment: "If it could be demonstrated [that] people were in Australia more than 100,000 years ago, we would have to rethink everything we thought we knew about the later phases of human evolution." (Ref. 1) If the Jinmium dates do hold up, they would bolster the unpopular "multiregional" hypothesis, which holds that modern humans arose from several protohuman populations -- not just that in Africa. The battle between the "Out of Africa" proponents and the multiregionalists has been a fierce one. The Jinmium artifacts may tilt opinion in favor of the latter. That is why this site is potentially so anomalous. But, everything hinges on accurate dating. Some ...
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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 108: Nov-Dec 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lake victoria's cichlid fishes: can random mutations explain them?Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake (420 kilometers long, but only 69 meters at its deepest). It is also the home of more than 300 species of cichlid fishes. Ordinarily, that number of different species would pose no problem for the biologists -- look at the 400 or so species of hummingbirds in Central and South America! Lake Victoria, however, is a very young lake, and all of these cichlid fishes are endemic. Therefore, they must have evolved rather rapidly. Recent seismic surveys of Lake Victoria and piston cores from its deepest parts by T.C . Johnson et al have surprised everyone: Lake Victoria was completely dry 12,400 years ago. Nor were there deeper "satellite" lakes that could have served as refuges for Lake Victoria's biota during extreme droughts. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the present-day 300+ species of cichlid fishes all evolved in less than 12,400 years. This being so, can random mutations -- the accepted source of evolutionary novelty -- have generated so many new species in such a short time? That would be one new species every 40 years or so on the average. (Johnson, Thomas C., et al; "Late Pleistocene Desiccation of Lake Victoria and Rapid Evolution of Cichlid Fishes," Science, 273:1091 ...
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... Apr 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Cichlids Punctuate Equilibrium In those pesky cichlid fish of African lakes we may be seeing punctuated evolution during an actual punctuation. Responding to the article in SF#108 on the Lake Victoria cichlids, A. Mebane called our attention to Lake Malawi. While the Lake Victoria cichlids seem to have evolved a profusion of species in a space of about 12,500 years, those cichlids in Lake Malawi may have done the same in only a century or two. T. Goldschmidt advances this evenmore-abbreviated time scale in his book Darwin's Dreampond . In it, he discusses how the water level of Lake Malawi fell more than 120 meters during the 1800s -- an exceptionally dry period in Africa. Today, the Lake is again high and once more host to isolated rocky islands, each with its own unique complement of cichlid fish; each island has species found nowhere else in the lake. Where did all these species come from, considering that their little islands were bone dry just a century ago? Goldschmidt writes: "Cichlids that inhabited these exposed rocks would have suffocated, unless they had already left for wetter climes. Yet today, species that do not exist anywhere else can be found near almost every rocky island. From an orthodox point of view, the most plausible explanation for this is quite surprising: many color forms as well as biological species developed over a period of less than two hundred years." This is certainly explosive speciation -- real biological punctuation! ...
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