Dormice, sea urchins and fresh figs: the Roman diet revealed
Dormice, sea urchins and fresh figs were among the delicacies enjoyed by ordinary Romans, British archaeologists have revealed after discovering a giant septic tank at one of the ancient cities destroyed by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius.
Archaeologists found a treasure trove of everyday artefacts after digging up nearly 800 sacks of compacted human waste from the tank, which lies beneath the remains of a Roman apartment block in Herculaneum, destroyed after it was buried by ash from the volcano in AD79.
The British team has found hundreds of objects, including bronze coins, precious stones, bone hair pins and an exquisite gold ring decorated with a tiny figure of the god Mercury.
They regularly feasted on fish, spiky sea urchins, figs, walnuts, eggs and olives, using the olive pips as fuel in their homes.
Today marks the 100th birthday of IBM, which was founded on June 16, 1911, in New York City as
the awkwardly named Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. (It was renamed International Business Machines in 1924.)
Over the decades, Big Blue, as the company is nicknamed, has reinvented itself many times, offering everything from calculators to electric typewriters to desktop computers to software to consulting services. By the mid-20th century, IBM was an icon of American business whose clean-cut employees in dark suits followed the mantra “Think,” a favorite slogan of longtime leader Thomas J. Watson.
Despite a somewhat stodgy reputation in recent years, IBM holds more patents than any other U.S.-based technology company and has a long history of pioneering technological innovations. IBM research has yielded the computerized airline reservation system, the magnetic strip on your credit cards, the ATM, the UPC bar code and the excimer laser used in LASIK eye surgery. IBM computers also helped power the Apollo moon landing in 1969.
Penn team uncovers skeleton of ‘world’s oldest child’
Last year, while a Penn team of archaeologists was working in Morocco, members uncovered a treasure beyond anything they’d imagined – a skeleton of a child from 108,000 years ago.
They don’t know what killed him at about age 8, but his remains are believed to be one of the most complete ever found of this period.
The skeleton promises to open a window into a pivotal time in human evolution when Neanderthals still ruled Europe, and Africans were inventing art and symbolic thought.
“…when Neanderthals still ruled Europe, and Africans were inventing art and symbolic thought.” – I hate to question this little piece of possibly affirmative-action science, but how in hell does anyone know the thoughts of Africans (symbolic or otherwise) 108,000 years ago?
I wonder what archaeologists will think about us a couple thousand years from now?
“Evidence shows that a race of people known as ‘Americans’ elected a man who said he would destroy their country. We aren’t sure why they did.”
LOL!
Eww, I wonder if the dormice were roasted, fried or boiled in preparation.