Doubts on Evolutionary Evidence, A Freak of Nature, and Voynich Manuscript Gets Pretty Freaky Too…
Greetings the Unleashed!
Last week, I wrote a carefully worded piece about Tucker Carson’s statement that there was “No evidence, zip, zero” for Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Now I was careful not to judge, because I know what it’s like to be in an interview, and sometimes you don’t articulate yourself quite as fully as is necessary.
So, I tried to explore what he meant a little further. The argument seems to boil down to this. There are enough gaps in the evidence for the Theory of Evolution to state it is wrong.
Now there are other arguments set against evolution. But it’s a whole area that I’d rather not go into, so I’ll stick to the area he specified, which is the fossil record.
Now, it is a theory, so it is not proven conclusively (as much as anything ever can be). There are gaps in the fossil record which raise questions for sure. But the overwhelming amount of evidence from different areas of scientific investigation keeps fitting with the theory. You can see huge chunks in the fossil record we do have of progressive development from one species to the next. You can observe different species with adaptations that suit their environment (Carlson did accept adaptation as correct). Modern genetics fits nicely with Darwin's theory by mapping the DNA sequences of different species and showing clear patterns of shared ancestry and divergence consistent with evolutionary theory. And it goes on…
Anyway, I try to give a balance assessment of the specific arguments Carlson refers to in, ‘Does Tucker Carlson Have A Point About the Theory of Evolution?’
To be honest, it just scrapes the surface of the possible arguments there are to have, if you really wanted to go down that path. But based on the fossil record being inadequate argument… Is the evidence conclusive? Not yet. Is it enough to establish a firm foundation from where to adjust? I think so, but that’s just my theory…
On with the Editor’s choice from Ancient Origins this week…
New evidence, new history…
Oldest City Found on a Pacific Island Was Constructed in 300 AD in Tonga
With the assistance of data obtained in 2011 with advanced laser scanning technology, archaeologists have been able to identify the remains of a 1,700-year-old lost city on the island of Tongatapu in the Tonga island chain. Using the LiDAR remote sensing system, a popular tool for archaeologists performing aerial surveys, researchers spotted and mapped nearly 10,000 mounds upon which individual or family residences had been constructed in many cases, and where the buried tombs of elites had been located in others. These mounds were found distributed across the landscape about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) away from Tonga’s capital city of Nuku’alofa, along the island’s northern seacoast.
As of now, this is the oldest city ever found on an island in the southwest Pacific Ocean region. The site where the city was located is now occupied by a small, humble village known as Mu’a, which is actually a remnant of the ancient urban settlement that has survived to this day.
In a new reevaluation of the aerial data, plus an examination of further evidence collected during onsite excavations over the past several years, archaeologists Phillip Parton and Geoffrey Clark from the Australian National University in Canberra have revealed a host of new details about how and why this ancient city developed. They have also explained the greater significance of this urban settlement from the early first millennium, in the context of development patterns in the region as a whole.
While the discovery of remains from an ancient city in any location is a cause for celebration among archaeologists, this find is both special and unusual. The Australian researchers say that this is likely one of the first cities to form on any Pacific island, and its discovery shows that the people of Tonga were urbanizing much earlier than had previously been estimated.
"Earth structures were being constructed in Tongatapu around AD 300. This is 700 years earlier than previously thought," Professor Parton told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commenting on dating procedures completed during archaeological fieldwork. He emphasized that this timeline meant urbanization in the Pacific had begun well before European contact took place, and therefore could not have been influenced by outsiders.
This beast continues to enthrall…
Titanoboa: The Monster Snake that Ruled Prehistoric Colombia
You may not want to read about this frightening creature if you suffer from ophidiophobia, or even if you are about to embark on a camping trip. Once the largest snake in the world, Titanoboa fossils discovered in Colombia reveal that it lived during the Paleocene epoch about 60 million years ago. Even though you’re safe from its bone-crushing grip today, the thought of the huge prehistoric snake slithering around South America is still a terrifying one.
So far, the South American nation of Colombia has the only known fossils of the huge serpent. It is through these scant remains that paleontologists were able to estimate the size of this prehistoric creature. This estimation was then used to create a life-size model of Titanoboa, which was exhibited in 2012 in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal as a promotion for the Smithsonian Channel documentary entitled Titanoboa: Monster Snake.
Saucy…
A Sexy Part of the Voynich Manuscript Is Deciphered
The Voynich manuscript has long puzzled and fascinated historians and the public. This late-medieval document is covered in illustrations of stars and planets, plants, zodiac symbols, naked women, and blue and green fluids. But the text itself – thought to be the work of five different scribes – is enciphered and yet to be understood.
In an article published in Social History of Medicine, my co-author Michelle L. Lewis and I propose that sex is one of the subjects detailed in the manuscript – and that the largest diagram represents both sex and conception.
Research on the Voynich manuscript has revealed some clues about its origins. Carbon dating provides a 95% probability the skins used to make the manuscript come from animals that died between 1404 and 1438. However, its earliest securely known owner was an associate of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, who lived from 1552 to 1612, which leaves more than a century of ownership missing.
Certain illustrations (the zodiac symbols, a crown design and a particular shape of castle wall (called a swallowtail merlon) indicate the manuscript was made in the southern Germanic or northern Italian cultural areas.
One section contains illustrations of naked women holding objects adjacent to, or oriented towards, their genitalia. These wouldn’t belong in a solely herbal or astronomical manuscript. To make sense of these images, we investigated the culture of late-medieval gynecology and sexology – which physicians at the time often referred to as “women’s secrets”.
Looks promising…
Villa Where Augustus Died May Have Been Excavated Near Mount Vesuvius
Archaeologists from the University of Tokyo has excavated what may be the remains of the Villa of Augustus, a first-century grand estate that was built near Somma Vesuviana, a town located in the greater Naples area in southern Italy. This is where the first Roman emperor, the legendary Augustus Caeser, was said to have died in the year 14 AD.
Augustus’ villa was constructed on the northern side of Mount Vesuvius, and like so much else in the vicinity it was buried under tons of volcanic ash and molten lava following the catastrophic eruption of this volcano in 79 AD. The search for the famed Villa of Augustus has been going on for decades, which is why the announcement by the Japanese archaeologists that they may have found it is generating so much excitement.
Is This Really the Villa of Augustus? Examining the Evidence
In the 1930s, other excavations at the same location north of Mount Vesuvius unearthed the remains of a Roman-era estate that many assumed was the long-buried villa. But later investigations proved these ruins dated to the second century AD, meaning it had been built after Mount Vesuvius had already erupted.
The newest excavations penetrated below this estate, and this led to the surprising discovery that it had been erected over the top of an older residence. The University of Tokyo archaeologists who found the earlier structure have been able to demonstrate that Mount Vesuvius was responsible for its burial, and they’ve also shown that the estate definitely dates to the early first century AD.
They performed radiocarbon dating tests on organic materials recovered from the site that confirmed the latter fact, and they carried out a chemical analysis of the volcanic rock covering the villa to prove it had come from Vesuvius.
What has been observed during the excavations so far reveals that the villa would have belonged to a powerful and uber-wealthy person. The architecture is in the typical ancient Roman style favored by elites, and the structure features a room that seems to have been reserved for a private bath, which is an installation Augustus would have undoubtedly had.
Old but gold…
Decoding the Baghdad Battery: Ancient Artifact or Medical Marvel?
Longstanding beliefs about ancient technological and medical knowledge were placed under scrutiny when Paul T. Keyser's published an article in the 1990s challenging the conventional narrative of ancient technological and medical ignorance. Writing in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Keyser proposed that ancient batteries and electric eels might have been utilized for medical purposes, potentially for pain relief or anesthesia.
This hypothesis raises intriguing questions about the true function of the Baghdad Battery, a mysterious artifact from antiquity. As archaeological and textual evidence continues to emerge, scholars are reevaluating our understanding of ancient civilizations and their capabilities in technology and medicine.
Debating the Purpose of the “Baghdad Battery”
The Baghdad Battery, sometimes referred to as the Parthian Battery, is a clay pot which encapsulates a copper cylinder. Suspended in the center of this cylinder—but not touching it—is an iron rod. Both the copper cylinder and the iron rod are held in place with an asphalt plug.
These artifacts (more than one so-called “Baghdad Battery” was found) were discovered during the 1936 excavations of the old village Khujut Rabu, near Baghdad in Iraq. The village is considered to be about 2,000 years old and was built during the Parthian period which dates back to between 250BC and 224 AD. For some, the Baghdad Battery is thought to provide insight into ancient Mesopotamian technology.
The Baghdad Battery remains a contentious topic in archaeological circles, with established academia viewing it with skepticism as more likely a mundane artifact than an ancient electrical device. While prevailing opinion leans towards conventional uses such as storage, alternative historians and enthusiasts of ancient mysteries find its enigmatic nature captivating, proposing speculative theories about its potential as a primitive electrical device or for electroplating.
Does it now…
Carved Bone in Poland shows us how Neanderthals were Thinking
Nobody thought much of the bone fragment when it was discovered in the Dziadowa Skała Cave in southern Poland in the 1950s. It would take the better part of a century, and a brilliant new study, for the secrets of the artifact to be fully revealed.
The find, a fragment of the radius bone of a bear with 17 incisions, is proving to be a vital early indicator of Neanderthals’ cognitive abilities in the area. Dated to the Eemian period between 130,000 and 115,000 years ago, it offers stunning insight into how our lost relatives were thinking.
How Smart Were They?
A team of researchers has now re-analyzed the fragment using advanced microscopy and X-ray computed tomography techniques, publishing their finds in the Journal of Archaeological Sciences. The findings confirm the bone is one of Europe's oldest symbolic cultural artifacts. Further, it has been shown that the bone had been intentionally marked with a retouched stone tool: the Neanderthals carved this, and with a very specific purpose.
“This makes it one of the earliest traces of symbolic culture recorded in Eurasia, which is represented by a series of seventeen incisions made with a broad-edged flint tool, possibly a bifacial knife. Current analyses show that the marks were made in a single session by a right-handed individual through repeated incisions, mostly using a technique where the movement was towards themselves. Apparently, the incisions served no practical purpose,” write the authors of the study.
Til next time… just mind those gaps…
The Voynich Manuscript mystery was solved a few years ago. It's a document with roots in alchemy written in ancient Turkish (13th century?). Very few people recognized "ancient Turkish", but one scholar noticed it immediately and reported it. The book has since been translated into modern English (among other languages.
Tucker Carlson’s opinion on anything has to be regarded with skepticism. He has demonstrated a lack of discernment and intelligence on many prior matters.